National Apprenticeship Week is upon us – an important moment to celebrate apprentices and their positive impact on communities, businesses and the wider economy.
We want to remind potential apprentices and their employers that apprenticeships drive opportunity and growth, providing paid work and sought-after skills that lead to great careers.
But behind the spotlight shone on apprentices this week, the government is driving reforms to make apprenticeships work better for everyone.
We recognise that employers want more flexibility in designing apprenticeships to suit their industry. That’s why we’ve decided to reduce the minimum duration of an apprenticeship from 12 to eight months.
This flexibility will mean apprentices can complete their training more quickly, for example, where candidates have prior learning in their field or that industry typically trains other people up in less than 12 months.
This will help to grow the economy, allowing these workers to complete their training to the same high standard, but at a quicker pace.
Three trailblazer apprenticeships in key shortage occupations will enable us to pioneer shorter apprenticeships, with green energy, healthcare, and film and TV production becoming some of the first to welcome apprentices on these accelerated courses from August.
We are committed to working with others on how this can help them too. This change will break down barriers to opportunity, quickly bringing more skilled workers into the labour market to drive growth.
We are also removing barriers which can prevent apprentices from completing in critical sectors like construction. Employers will now be able to decide whether adult learners over 19 will need to complete up to a level 2 English and maths qualification in order to pass the apprenticeship.
This could mean as many as 10,000 more apprentices a year will be able to complete their apprenticeship, in high-demand sectors such as healthcare, social care and construction.
Skills England is our new national body to oversee and simplify skills training over the next decade. One of its first orders of business is to identify apprenticeships best served by a reduced duration, prioritising key shortage occupations as per the industrial strategy.
The secretary of state has just announced that Phil Smith CBE will chair Skills England, with Sir David Bell serving as vice chair.
Smith brings gold standard industry expertise as former chief executive and chair of Cisco UK and Ireland, and Sir David is a recognised education leader, formerly DfE permanent secretary and now vice chancellor of the University of Sunderland. Both will be instrumental in bringing together key partners to meet the nation’s skills needs.
We’ve also listened to employers and apprentices’ insights on other aspects of the programme. This includes end-point assessments and how they could better test professional readiness.
Following feedback, assessment plans will now be shorter and more flexible, focusing on the ‘must haves’ for occupational competency and also allowing providers to deliver assessments in some cases without compromising quality.
The sector tells us this will remove unnecessary duplication with on-programme assessment, and allow some flexibility in their delivery.
To make sure there is parity and rigour across the board, we will ask Skills England to review end-point assessments for each apprenticeship standard from April onwards.
On the other side of the coin, we are simplifying payment processes for apprenticeship training providers and will no longer require them to replicate their data entry to receive funding for apprenticeship training delivered. As a result, providers will no longer encounter data mismatches, eliminating the problems they cause such as delayed payments and increased admin errors.
This National Apprenticeship Week, while we celebrate the successes of today’s apprentices, employers and providers, we are getting on with cutting red tape in the system we inherited. By doing so, we will boost uptake and, ultimately, drive the economic growth that this country needs.
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