An apprenticeship brokerage pilot run by metro mayors will offer a university “clearance style system” for young people whose applications have been rejected, the government has said.
It comes as the government confirmed plans for students to be able to apply for apprenticeships through UCAS alongside an undergraduate degree application have been dropped.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the new £140 million pilot will help young people who narrowly miss out on an apprenticeship to find alternative opportunities locally, echoing the role UCAS clearing plays for higher education applicants.
The scheme, first announced in December, will be run in partnership with metro mayors and employers and will focus on matching so-called “near miss” candidates with similar vacancies in their area.
A DWP spokesperson said further details on where and when the pilot will operate are “to come shortly”.
The move comes after the government confirmed it has shelved plans for apprenticeship applications to be handled through UCAS’ website – a commitment announced in 2023 that was due to take effect from 2024.
DWP told FE Week today there are “currently no plans to run apprenticeship applications through UCAS”.
Filling the gap
Alongside the mayoral brokerage pilot, ministers have promised a new online platform – funded from existing budgets – to provide clearer information on apprenticeships, including pay, progression routes and career outcomes.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said the reforms would give young people “a second chance” if they miss out on their first-choice apprenticeship.
“Clearer information, better support, and real opportunities will help more young people get into jobs of the future,” he said. “And we’re giving those who miss out on their top choice apprenticeship a second chance by matching them with another opportunity in their area.”
While the locations are yet to be announced, the DWP announcement included supportive comments from mayor of London Sadiq Khan and West Midlands mayor Richard Parker.
This weekend, the government also announced plans to cut the time it takes to update apprenticeship and develop short courses to meet urgent skills demands.
Repackaged announcement?
The £140 million pilot was originally unveiled in December as part of a wider £750 million package for apprenticeships.
At the time, ministers said the mayoral brokerage would help connect young people – particularly those not in education, employment or training (NEETs) – with local employers.
The wider package included funding to make apprenticeship training free for under-25s at SMEs, develop short levy-funded AI courses, and introduce foundation apprenticeships in sectors such as hospitality and retail.
However, the government has yet to clarify how the £750 million will be divided between initiatives or over what timeframe it will be spent.
The apprenticeship budget for this year is fixed at £3.075 billion.
In response to a freedom of information request, DWP officials declined to provide cost breakdowns or delivery timelines, confirming only that the £750 million “will be met from the overall annual English apprenticeship budget”.
Officials also refused to set out how the measures would generate the promised 50,000 additional apprenticeships, saying forecasts were “highly sensitive” and needed to be developed in a “safe space”.
UCAS currently runs a clearing service between June and October to match applicants with unfilled university places.
While it added apprenticeship vacancies to its website in 2023 and will begin recognising level 3 apprenticeships in its tariff points system later this year, it has stopped short of hosting apprenticeship applications.
Plans for apprenticeship applications to be processed through UCAS in 2024 were dropped, leaving apprenticeship applications to continue to only run through the government’s Find An Apprenticeship website.
UCAS told FE Week the application process plans fell through because there is no commonly agreed timeframe for apprenticeship applications, as each organisation sets its own deadlines and start dates.
“UCAS told FE Week the application process plans fell through because there is no commonly agreed timeframe for apprenticeship applications, as each organisation sets its own deadlines and start dates”
Everyone in the sector *definitely* said this the *day* it was initially announced! Not that ministers/civil servants/mayors listened, of course…