Apprenticeships update 11 November 2016 Changes to funding

The DfE has announced that it will introduce measures to reduce the impact of reduced apprenticeship funding bands.  

These include 20% extra to be paid on the funding band limit for 16-18 year olds, and more money to provide additional support for employers to train apprentices in disadvantaged areas.

Higher funding for STEM apprenticeship frameworks has also been announced.

There is still concern that some frameworks will feel funding cuts once the levy comes into place from April 2017.


Better progression needed for apprentices

Too many Level 2 apprenticeships in England do not help teenagers to start a career or progress to higher vocational education, new research suggests.

In its report Earning and learning: Making the apprenticeship system work for 16–18-year-olds, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is concerned that apprenticeships are not giving young people the start they need.  It proposes a pre-Apprenticeship programme for 16-18 year olds addressing the distinct needs of this age group.  

The IPPR proposes that the programme would be offered by FE colleges and would be designed to help young people move on to a Level 3 apprenticeship at the age of 18 or 19.


Apprenticeships should have a stronger focus on quality

The apprenticeships programme will not deliver its full potential unless a greater focus is placed on improving the quality of all apprenticeships, according to a new report.

The Policy Exchange report - The skills we need, and why we don’t have them – is concerned that quality in apprenticeships is being sacrificed as the government has focused too much on numbers and too little on the quality of programmes to date.

The report urges the government to put in place a high level quality target alongside its existing commitment to create 3 million new apprenticeship starts by 2020.  It calls for all existing and upcoming apprenticeship standards to be redefined to focus unequivocally on quality.

It also believes that the Institute for Apprenticeships should become the guarantor of quality and the voice of employers, and that the qualifications regulator, Ofqual, should be required to set the standards for how future apprenticeships should be assessed.


Boost for degree apprenticeships

18 Higher Education Institutions have been awarded funding to establish 5,200 new degree apprenticeships for students starting in September 2017.

The degree apprenticeships will cover a wide range of subjects from, for example, engineering, through construction, business, nursing and digital, to early years teaching.

Designed by employers, universities and professional bodies, degree apprenticeships deliver high-level skills and offer an alternative to a traditional degree course.  Bringing together university study with paid work, degree apprentices spend part of their time at university and part with their employer.