Multiverse is on the cusp of overtaking Lifetime Training as England’s largest apprenticeship training provider, new figures reveal.
Full-year apprenticeship data covering academic year 2024-25, published today, show the gap between England’s largest and second largest training providers has closed to just 1,070 starts, down from over 8,400 the year before.
The narrowing at the top of the table comes as Lifetime recorded a 20 per cent fall in apprenticeship starts, from 16,330 in 2023-24 to 13,100 in 2024-25. Meanwhile, Multiverse saw its start figure grow by 52 per cent, from 7,910 in 2023-24 to 12,030 in 2024-25.
Multiverse, which was founded in 2016 by Euan Blair, specialises in data and digital apprenticeships, mostly at higher education levels, and has degree awarding powers for its level 6 digital and technology solutions programme.
Lifetime offers a much broader portfolio of apprenticeships from levels 2 to 5 in sectors such as retail, hospitality and adult care.
Charlotte Bosworth, CEO of Lifetime Training Group, told FE Week the company had focused on sectors where it delivers “the greatest impact” but also that “economic headwinds” facing employers and the uncertain funding landscape contributed to its drop in starts.
“Lifetime has made the strategic decision to focus on sectors where we can deliver the greatest impact: care, early years, retail, and hospitality. These industries are critical to the UK economy and society, and our priority is ensuring that apprenticeships in these areas are high-quality, sustainable and aligned to employer needs,” she said.
“Apprenticeships are a vital driver of skills and productivity, and continued investment and flexibility in funding will be essential to ensure they remain accessible and impactful.”
Multiverse became the highest-earning apprenticeship training provider earlier this year due the high-value programmes it delivers. But it is yet to turn a profit, with Blair describing the company as “pre-profitability” earlier this week.
A Multiverse spokesperson said: “Employers want best-in-class AI training to realise productivity benefits, and ensure their people don’t get left behind. “Growth is critical, but so is learners getting promotions or avoiding redundancy, and businesses increasing productivity. That’s beginning to happen, but the sooner specific standards in AI and short courses come online, the better for the whole system.”
Level 7 rush intensifies
As with previous years, 2024-25 saw continuing growth in higher level apprenticeships and a decline in level 2 starts.
FE Week analysis shows 70 per cent of the overall growth in apprenticeships can be attributed to starts on level 7 courses. An FE Week investigation earlier this year revealed early figures showing a rush on level 7 starts before funding is removed in January for apprentices under 22.
Today’s figures, covering August 2024 to July 2025, update our initial analysis. They show level 7 starts are up by 41 per cent, nearly 10,000 additional starts, compared to the previous full year; from 23,860 to 33,560.
It means nearly one in 10 of all new apprentices in 2024-25 was a level 7.
Data covering May, June and July 2025 show level 7 starts were up 127 per cent, 128 per cent and 228 per cent respectively.
But that is still only part of the story. The rush to start level 7s is expected to reach its climax in the final months of 2025. We won’t see those figures until next year.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced funding for level 7 apprenticeships would be removed in his party conference speech in September last year. The January cut-off date was announced in May.
FE Week analysis shows there were 5,349 additional senior leader apprenticeship starts in 2024-25 compared to the year before, 1,486 extra starts on the accountancy or tax professional apprenticeship, 789 on the senior people professional apprenticeship and 652 extra apprentice solicitors. The funding bands for those apprenticeships range from £14,000 to £27,000 per apprentice.
Experts described the spike in starts as a “financial headache” for the government, which is trying to squeeze the limited apprenticeship levy budget to launch new industrial strategy short courses and pivot funding towards younger workers.
The apprenticeships budget for financial year 2026-27 has not yet been confirmed, but the pot was overspent for the first time in 2024-25.
Under-19s lowest since pandemic
Overall apprenticeships starts were up by 4.1 per cent, driven mostly by level 7 starts. A total of 353,470 apprentices started in 2024-25, up from 339,590.
Excluding level 7s, apprenticeship starts only increased by 1.3 per cent.
But under-19 apprenticeship starts were the lowest since the pandemic. There were 74,990 starts in 2024-25, down 5 per cent on the year before. This is the lowest level since 2020-21 (65,150) and means under-19s now make up 21 per cent of all apprentices, down from 25 per cent in 2018-19.
Numbers of 19 to 24-year-olds increased slightly, by 1.2 per cent, between 2024-25 and the year before, whereas starts by those aged 25 and above shot up by 10.2 per cent.
There were over 5,000 fewer level 2 apprenticeship starts in 2024-25 than in 2023-24, a 7.3 per cent frop fro 70,850 to 65,680. Level 4 starts increased by 11.8 per cent, level 5 by 11 per cent and level 6 by 2 per cent. Level 3 starts only increased by 0.4 per cent.
Low apprenticeship numbers for under-19s reflect the lack of good careers advice available in schools and the promotion of traditional academic qualifications. I hope that Ofsted looks at this seriously in the new framework when judging schools, especially where smaller sixth forms cannot give a suitably wide offer to their pupils. Parents still believe what they are told by head teachers and are let down by poor work experience where any placement will do.