Funding bands for 10 of the 30 apprenticeship standards under review by the Institute for Apprenticeships since last December have been approved by the education secretary Damian Hinds.
Changes for those that have had their funding reduced will come into effect for apprenticeship starts from August 5, 2019, while those that have increased will have their new funding band implemented for starts from May 7, 2019.
Of the 10, two have had their funding cut: the level 3 engineering design and draughtsperson standard (from £27,000 to £24,000) and the level 2 financial services customer adviser standard (from £4,000 to £3,500).
Meanwhile, seven funding bands have remained the same and one, for the level 4 aviation operations manager standard, has increased from £5,000 to £7,000 (see full table below).
In May 2018, the apprenticeships minister Anne Milton asked the institute to conduct its first ever review of funding bands, which included 31 existing apprenticeship standards.
This led to several standards having their funding cut, including the popular chartered manager degree apprenticeship by £5,000. This was followed by another review of the funding bands for 30 standards in December 2018.
Today’s release of updated funding bands includes the final remaining one from the May review: the level 3 motor vehicle service and maintenance technician (light vehicle) standard, which has been cut from £18,000 to £15,000.
A spokesperson for the institute stated: “The aim of the reviews is to ensure these standards have the most appropriate funding band to support high quality delivery, and provide value for money for employers and taxpayers.
“They will also ensure consistency in the way older and newer standards are funded.”
Twenty funding band recommendations still have to be approved from the December 2018 reviews.
Standard
|
Pre-review
|
Reviewed
|
Implementation
|
Adult Care Worker |
£3,000 |
Band 4 (£3,000) |
No change |
Lead Adult Care Worker |
£3,000 |
Band 4 (£3,000) |
No change |
Healthcare Support Worker |
£3,000 |
Band 4 (£3,000) |
No change |
Financial Services Customer Adviser |
£4,000 |
Band 5 (£3,500) |
05-Aug-19 |
Aviation Operations Manager |
£5,000 |
Band 10 (£7,000) |
07-May-19 |
Investment Operations Administrator |
£5,000 |
Band 8 (£5,000) |
No change |
Large Goods Vehicle Driver |
£5,000 |
Band 8 (£5,000) |
No change |
Butcher |
£9,000 |
Band 12 (£9,000) |
No change |
Engineering Design and Draughtsperson |
£27,000 |
Band 27 (£24,000) |
05-Aug-19 |
Gas Engineering |
£27,000 |
TBC |
|
Supply Chain Warehouse Operative |
£3,000 |
TBC |
|
Public Service Operational Delivery Officer |
£3,000 |
TBC |
|
Hospitality Supervisor |
£5,000 |
TBC |
|
Senior Production Chef |
£5,000 |
TBC |
|
HR Support |
£5,000 |
TBC |
|
Retail Team Leader |
£5,000 |
TBC |
|
Retail Manager |
£6,000 |
TBC |
|
Highway Electrician / Service Operative |
£9,000 |
TBC |
|
Senior Financial Services Customer Adviser |
£9,000 |
TBC |
|
Chef De Partie |
£9,000 |
TBC |
|
Housing/Property Management |
£9,000 |
TBC |
|
HR Consultant / Partner |
£9,000 |
TBC |
|
Travel Consultant |
£9,000 |
TBC |
|
IT Technical Salesperson |
£12,000 |
TBC |
|
Water Process Technician |
£12,000 |
TBC |
|
Rail Engineering Operative |
£12,000 |
TBC |
|
Associate Ambulance Practitioner |
£15,000 |
TBC |
|
Bus and Coach Engineering Technician |
£18,000 |
TBC |
|
Heavy Vehicle Service and Maintenance Technician |
£18,000 |
TBC |
Real shame the institute have decided to ignore the appeal for keeping the funding band the same for level 3 motor vehicle service and maintenance technician (light vehicle) standard at 18K. The mention of wanting to make sure high quality is maintained and value for money for employers will be even more difficult to achieve. The new band of 15K simply does not take into account everything that has to be achieved over a 3 year programme let alone the cost of End Point in my view.