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23 April 2026

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Cheap means nasty for apprenticeship units, say providers

Low funding and inflexible rules are turning bosses off bitesize training scheme

Billy Camden

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Labour’s flagship apprenticeship “units” risk stalling before they begin as training providers warn the courses are so underfunded they may refuse to run them.

Ministers this week published long-awaited funding rates for the first tranche of 10 units – short courses that will, for the first time, allow employers to spend levy money on non-apprenticeship training.

But training organisations said the rates, ranging from £22.80 to £27.10 an hour, fall well short of covering the real cost of delivery, fuelling claims the programme has been set up to fail.

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