There were 36 starts on the government’s new foundation apprenticeships in the first three months of their rollout, new data shows.
Provisional starts data for quarter one of the 2025-26 academic year – August to October – show overall apprenticeship starts were up by 7.7 per cent to 142,780 compared to 132,560 reported for the previous year.
This was mostly driven by higher level apprenticeship starts increasing by 15.1 per cent to 57,560 compared to 50,000 in the same period last year.
Starts at levels 6 and 7 shot up by 12.8 per cent to 28,740, with 16,260 at level 6 and 12,480 at level 7.
Today’s data includes foundation apprenticeships for the first time, which are new level 2 programmes lasting eight months – designed to be a stepping stone to full apprenticeships.
Seven foundation apprenticeships launched in August, including three for the construction sector, two for digital, one for engineering and manufacturing and one for health and social care.
The most popular so far has proved to be the onsite trades foundation apprenticeship which recorded 17 starts.
Two foundation apprenticeships – in software and data and finishing trades – are yet to get off the ground as nobody started on them in the period.
The government’s data set described foundation apprenticeships as a “new programme which will be building over time”.
Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Ben Rowland warned in November that the initial delivery of foundation apprenticeships had been “a damp squib” because the government “began by taking them to industrial strategy sectors who didn’t ask for them, need them or want them”.
The government has in recent months announced plans to introduce foundation apprenticeships in hospitality and retail, but officials are yet to give a timeline for their rollout.
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