Industry collaboration and better pay boost apprenticeships

If the UK is serious about solving skills shortages, supporting young people into employment and upskilling to meet demands in emerging sectors, apprenticeships must be at the centre of employer growth strategies.

For education providers, that means tackling outdated perceptions, ensuring apprentices earn competitive wages and strengthening employer partnerships.

Yet, enrolment in apprenticeships has declined 30 per cent since 2017. So why are they still underutilised?

A case of miseducation

Many employers know apprenticeships are a fantastic choice for their business. But apprenticeships can be difficult to navigate, and there is work to be done to ensure businesses of all sizes understand how they can access apprenticeships and the support available to them.

Plus, while some young people love the idea of earning and learning, there is often a misconception amongst parents or the public that apprenticeships are a second-tier option with limited career potential.

This is a huge frustration when we know the apprenticeships we run across NCG offer a wide range of knowledge, behaviours and transferable skills that equip learners with industry-recognised qualifications linked directly to employer demand and can lead to rewarding careers.

So, what can we do about it? Newcastle College has planned ambitious business numbers for 2025-26 alongside the introduction of six new apprenticeship standards to support growth.

Apprenticeships are uniquely effective because they are designed with employers from the outset, where they evolve in real time to meet employer, sector, and regional needs. 

Innovation constantly reshapes job requirements, and apprenticeships adapt accordingly. This agility is essential to support developments across industries.

Working with employers

The Persimmon Homes Academy at Newcastle College is an example of how, by working directly with employers, apprenticeships in construction provide an immediate talent pipeline, addressing persistent shortages in the industry.

The academy, launched in partnership with the college in 2024, provides bricklaying, joinery and roofing apprenticeships, ensuring that learners receive industry-standard training from the outset. With the direct support of Persimmon’s regional apprentice manager, apprentices gain hands-on experience and structured career progression within the company.

This kind of collaboration should be the norm, not the exception. If more industries adopted similar models, skills shortages in key sectors could be significantly reduced.

Employers often require specific skills that may not yet be incorporated into traditional provision, which can lead to a disconnect. To overcome this, Newcastle College has adopted a flexible, industry-responsive approach.

By closely collaborating with employers like Persimmon Homes, the college ensures apprenticeship programmes are continually updated to reflect the latest industry trends and standards.

This proactive approach not only bridges the skills gap but also builds stronger relationships between education providers and employers, ensuring apprentices are equipped with the skills employers need.

Pay competitive salaries

For apprenticeships to remain a viable alternative to full-time study, wages must reflect the value apprentices bring to businesses.

Currently, the national apprenticeship minimum wage is just £6.40 per hour – significantly lower than the real living wage. While some sectors, such as engineering and construction, can offer incremental pay rises, others, like hospitality and hairdressing, often have no choice but to adhere to the apprenticeship minimum wage, making recruitment a challenge.

Employers who invest in apprentices with structured pay progression see higher retention rates and a more motivated workforce.

Apprenticeships must not only be seen as a training route but as a financially attractive career choice. Government incentives should encourage and help businesses to pay apprentices fairly and reflect the long-term value they bring.

Rethinking apprenticeships in FE

Over the next two years we are keen to introduce new “dark green apprenticeships”, potentially in the digital and energy sectors, ensuring that sustainability is embedded into training at every level.

FE institutions and businesses must push for greater government support in funding, promotion, and a streamlining of bureaucracy. Without significant reform, we risk missing the opportunity to equip the next generation with the skills they – and the economy – urgently need.

Beyond National Apprenticeship Week, we have to keep shouting about apprenticeships and ensure they get the recognition they deserve.

Ofsted’s new inspection framework: progress or more pressure?

We finally have the long-awaited outline of the new Ofsted inspection framework for implementation in November.

Opinions will be split on whether it is going to cause more work for providers and inspectors, is different enough to what we have now, and focuses on the right things.

And we must be careful not to jump the gun as the new inspection methodology is out for consultation and pilot inspections of FE and skills providers start this week, so further changes may be made.

So, what are the major game changers?

No overall effectiveness grade

This is the big headline change, which Ofsted states has been driven by feedback from us all during its ‘Big Listen’ consultation.

The nuanced evaluation descriptors for each of four parts of a provision type might be useful if handled correctly, but will those descriptors be that far apart anyway? Surely a ‘strong’ curriculum must result in similarly strong teaching/training, achievement and participation and development, otherwise it isn’t ‘strong’?

There are some interesting questions here too about what happens to providers that are ‘causing concern’ regarding all, or most, of the areas. What will that mean for their continued existence and ability to tender for contracts?

The evaluation scale – ‘strong’ and ‘exemplary’

I’m in favour of differentiating between the current ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ as so many providers are not quite the former but better than the latter, which is the hole that ‘strong’ will presumably fill.

Some readers will remember the old and extremely useful ‘very good’ grade used by the adult learning Inspectorate. The fact that any ‘exemplary’ judgements now have to go before a panel to approve them should be interesting and might lead, one would think, to inspectors being wary before handing them out.

No more deep dives I think is a backwards step

No more deep dives

This suggests we are moving further away again from giving the customer an accurate view of a curriculum area at the ‘coal face’ which I think is a backwards step.

The idea that the areas to be focused on will be determined in part by leaders’ improvement priorities is an interesting idea given that many providers’ self-assessment reports, sadly, are principally still written for external audiences. And what exactly is starting from the standpoint that the provision is ‘secure’ actually going to entail? 

Achievement

It’s already clear that achievement rates are going to carry greater weighting and this might ring alarm bells for some apprenticeship providers with continuing high levels of withdrawals, and employability providers with little evidence of successful job interviews and outcomes.

Given the plethora of external factors impacting negatively on apprenticeship achievement rates over the last 10 years, not least the pandemic and the move to apprenticeship standards from frameworks, the easing back of the weighting put on performance data in the current Ofsted framework has perhaps been fortunate for all concerned.

I hope not to have a return, however, to the days when provider ‘grades’ were almost predetermined by the inspectorate based on their overall achievement rate against national averages.

Inclusion

Whilst colleges will probably be very comfortable with this being a headline evaluation area given the very good work they already do in the high-needs arena under the current framework, this may send ripples of concern through the training/employer provider/local authority sectors where the arrangements to support and fund learners with additional learning needs have tended to be less clearly delineated and refined.

Longer notice periods

Although not officially part of the new framework, there is little doubt I think that revised notice periods for notification of inspection are in the pipeline.

These have already been implemented for colleges and larger training and employer providers which now get five or six days’ notice.

However, the extension is likely to be less drastic for other providers, perhaps moving the current two working days to three or four days.

On balance, I suspect most providers will value this, especially those with lots of different types of courses and/or learners located around the country which have a lot to organise pre-inspection.

23 sixth form colleges vote to strike in NASUWT ballot

Teachers in 23 sixth form colleges who are members of the NASUWT union have voted for strike action – in a ballot that “confusingly” included academised sixth forms.

The union is also controversially refusing to reveal the names of the colleges that have voted to strike.

It comes a week after members of the National Education Union called off their proposed further strikes, having already hit the picket lines for eight days, after deciding to consult on a pay deal of 4.3 per cent for 2024/25 put forward by the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA).

The disputes stem from ministers’ decision last summer to hand schools and sixth form colleges that have converted to academy status a slice of £1.2 billion to help cover a 5.5 per cent salary boost for teachers.

The funding was not extended to the 40 sixth form colleges that have decided to not academise. It meant there would be an unequal pay rise for standalone sixth form college teachers and their colleagues who work in academised sixth form colleges in 2024/25.

The SFCA secured an extra £50 million from government in December to be released this academic year, following threat of a judicial review, to help fund pay rises in standalone sixth form colleges. This increased their pay offer from 2 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

NASUWT launched its strike ballot in January. The union’s general secretary Patrick Roach (pictured) claimed at the time that standalone sixth form college employers have spent the past months “advancing spurious arguments to justify not passing on an acceptable pay award to their teachers”.

Despite the fact that academised sixth form colleges were already implementing a 5.5 per cent pay rise for their teachers for the full 2024/25 academic year, NASUWT also balloted academised sixth form colleges. 

It is not clear why the union chose to do this.

A press release from the union stated: “As a result of the NASUWT’s decision to ballot members working in sixth form college academies, the employers have confirmed that a 5.5 per cent pay award backdated to September 2024 will now be paid to all teachers. Once the pay awards are implemented, the NASUWT’s disputes in individual sixth form college academies will be resolved.”

A ‘confusing and disappointing move’

The union claimed that 23 sixth form colleges voted in support of strike action and/or action short of strike action, with a turnout of 56 per cent.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the SFCA, said this is a “confusing and disappointing move from NASUWT”.

He told FE Week: “They appear to have balloted members in 16 to 19 academies even though teachers in these institutions will receive the 5.5 per cent pay award NASUWT is seeking. 

“They have not provided a list of the 23 institutions that have voted in support of strike action so we are unclear if any are 16 to 19 academies and will therefore not be affected but it appears that teachers voted not to strike in nearly three quarters of the institutions balloted. And they have completely ignored the role of the government in this dispute.

“Sixth form colleges cannot make the same pay award as 16 to 19 academies unless they receive the same funding to support a pay award. Rather than penalising students that have already experienced eight days of disruption as a result of this dispute, NASUWT should be working with us to secure the additional funding required from the government. This is a divisive and poorly timed development given that sixth form colleges are in the process of implementing the pay offer for 2024/25.”

Roach said: “All sixth form college employers have the flexibility to use their existing funds, reserves and additional funding allocations due in April this year to deliver the 5.5 per cent backdated award in full. There is simply no excuse and no justification for any teacher to be denied a fair and equitable pay award.

“We are today giving notice to college employers that they can avoid industrial action where they agree to provide teachers with the 5.5 per cent backdated pay award to which they are entitled.”

IfATE abolition laws pass the Lords

New laws abolishing the government’s technical education quango and handing ministers power over the approval of apprenticeships have cleared the House of Lords. 

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions) Bill passed its third reading in the House of Lords this afternoon, meaning it now goes to the House of Commons before becoming law. 

Opposition MPs are expected to challenge the government’s approach to the independence of Skills England, and new powers given to ministers to approve apprenticeship standards and assessment plans.

Opposition Lords successfully amended the bill to delay the closure of IfATE. The government’s plan was for the bill to come into force, and therefore abolish IfATE, at a time of the secretary of state’s choosing. 

However, Conservative shadow education minister Baroness Barran and crossbench peer Baroness Alison Wolf successfully passed amendment that would delay the bill coming into force to one year after Skills England is created. Barran argued this was needed to give time for Skills England to focus on its more strategic objectives without being “swamped” by IfATE’s more technical responsibilities. 

It is likely the government will use their majority in the House of Commons to change the bill back to how it was. 

Baroness Barran

Speaking in the House of Lords this afternoon, Barran said: “We hope very much that the government will think hard about our amendment to delay the abolition of IfATE to give Skills England the time to set itself up for success, and that the bill will be accepted in its current form in the other place [the House of Commons] so that, in the nicest possible way, we don’t see the bill again in your Lordships house.”

No delay to Skills England

Skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith said she would “engage” with Lords about their concerns on the delay. 

She said: “I must be clear that delay which this house has considered would create additional uncertainty for employers and learners and for IfATE staff, undermining the ongoing preparation for their transfer [to Skills England].

“Crucially, a delay to the full formation of Skills England would limit progress on tackling skills gaps to drive growth and promote opportunity, and this is my prime concern.”

Smith amended the bill herself last week to reassure peers concerned over the use of powers given to the secretary of state to unilaterally approve standards and apprenticeship assessment plans.

The bill was formally introduced in the House of Commons yesterday and will have its first debate among MPs on Tuesday, February 25.

From IfATE to Skills England via DfE: What you need to know

Functional skills qualifications have never been essential

The ability to communicate in the most commonly-used language where you live and the ability to understand quantities and use numbers are vital skills for life.

In other words, English (here in the UK) and maths.

Stephen Evans and I agree, emphatically on this (as we do on many other things).

But does this mean English and maths functional skills qualifications should be compulsory for the completion of an apprenticeship programme?

Equally emphatically – no. And I’m delighted that the government has started to change this, initially, as announced this week, by removing the requirement for apprentices aged 19 or above.

Five key reasons why:

1) Written tests, however ‘functional’ in intent, are a crude method for assessing real-world language and numeracy capabilities. They are, after all, only functional when used and evidenced in the real world, outside of a test centre and away from a test paper (by the way, I am as sceptical about English and maths GCSEs as markers of competence as I am about functional skills exams)

2) Truly functional skills are best included in their respective standard: if you can’t calculate how many bricks you need, how much hair dye to mix or understand the dispensing instructions on a medicine then you won’t be a competent bricklayer, hairdresser or care professional; should Skills England check and strengthen these in all standards? Absolutely.

3) If English and maths qualifications (as opposed to the skills themselves) were so essential, then we should insist on all other qualifications having them as an exit requirement as well. Why is it only apprenticeships? A-levels, T Levels, even PhDs do not need them as standard – is that because we assume people already have English and maths? Or do we (despite our best protestations) still ultimately cling to a belief that academic qualifications are still ‘best’ and that vocationally competent apprentices should nonetheless have to do something academic as well?

4) Perhaps in an ideal world, in which there was lots of spare money and tonnes of teachers available, we would insist on everyone getting not just their apprenticeship but English and maths too. We are not in an ideal world though, and at the moment, where the choice is between having no apprenticeship and no functional skills or having an apprenticeship and no functional skills, I choose the second of these. In this choice, the person has a job, even a career, is motivated and is almost certainly accruing English and maths skills as a by-product of all the other benefits. The other alternative means they have none of these things (but we have maintained our academic standards!)

5) If you have struggled with English and/or maths for 11 years at school, then it is likely that you don’t have the full range of pathways ahead of you. Certainly, there will be plenty of people lining up to tell you how difficult you are going to find it. So how cruel is it that, just at the point when you are finding your vocation in life and where formal English and maths qualifications, for the first time, don’t matter so much – people then deliberately insist on you having to stick with the very source of your classroom misery, formal English and Maths? No wonder it is putting off learners and employers from apprenticeships in their droves.

Finally, English and maths are vital skills that all should have. But they are not the only ones: empathy, problem solving, conceptualising and clarifying instructions, self-awareness, self-evaluation, digital skills and many others are just as important. I would like to see us collectively engage on how we best inculcate these essential skills for life (the strapline of National Apprenticeship Week, after all) as much as I would like to see us hone our approach to language and numeracy skills. The government has been really sensible in this first step, and – as the overwhelming reactions to my posts about this on social media suggest – will have made a massive difference to the life chances of thousands.

Making the case for functional skills in apprenticeships  

Functional skills within apprenticeships are one of the most talked about issues for DfE to consider and after much debate, the government has finally announced that functional skills will no longer be a requirement for apprentices over 19. While we await further details, it’s important that we bear in mind just how important functional skills are, not just for apprenticeships but for community and ‘growth’.

Employers need workers with strong literacy and numeracy skills for tasks like administration, communication, problem-solving and financial management. In an increasingly data driven world we need to understand what data is telling us but also be able to present it effectively and imaginatively. A skilled multi-faceted workforce boosts productivity and innovation, driving economic growth whilst low literacy and numeracy levels contribute to unemployment and lower wages for individuals with fewer chances for advancement.  

 Good literacy skills help individuals access and understand information, improving learning and societal outcomes, whilst numeracy is essential for managing finances, budgeting, and making informed decisions on credit, mortgages and student loans.   

We know there are gaps in literacy and numeracy attainment that contribute to inequality across different groups. Education is the leveller in this, creating opportunities for personal and community advancement and affecting other areas of life such as positive health and actions.  

 Within our daily lives literacy is needed for reading medical instructions, legal documents, and public information. Numeracy helps us with understanding bills, calculating discounts, and managing time effectively. We know that poor literacy and numeracy can lead to financial struggles, health risks, and difficulty accessing services.  

 Studies show a strong link between low literacy levels and crime whilst improving literacy and numeracy can help prevent reoffending by offering the chance for education with a hope of leading to employment. The new prisons minister, James Timpson understands this, and Open Awards was pleased to advocate for apprenticeships beginning in prisons alongside education programmes focusing on functional skills to seek to rehabilitate offenders.  

  Within England 18 per cent of adults have “very poor literacy skills” and government data indicates 49 per cent have numeracy skills at or below primary school children. Whilst we’ve seen an increase in attainment of children, we still have a task ahead with adults, an issue that stubbornly continues and under the proposed reforms is unlikely to improve. Functional Skills with their practical approach play an important role in addressing this. More investment is needed to encourage their uptake within employers, communities and individuals.  

 Indeed, the 2004 Leitch review of skills recommended that 95 per cent of adults achieve functional literacy and numeracy, highlighting the shared responsibility among individuals, employers, and the government in achieving this.  

Functional skills are crucial in improving literacy and numeracy because they provide practical, real-world applications of English and Maths, helping develop essential life and workplace skills. They help people read and understand bills, contracts, and medical information, manage finances, calculate budgets, and understand interest rates. Importantly they enable communications in work and social settings.   

Functional skills qualifications focus on problem-solving and critical thinking rather than just academic knowledge and serve as an alternative to GCSEs, helping people who struggled with traditional exams gain qualifications. Key industries like healthcare, construction, and retail require strong literacy and numeracy for tasks like report writing, safety procedures, and financial transactions. They provide a second chance for those who didn’t achieve a pass in GCSEs. Importantly, universities and colleges accept them as equivalent to GCSEs for certain courses.  

 Functional skills qualifications allow individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds or with English as a second language to improve their prospects, promoting inclusivity, especially for those with learning difficulties or alternative learning styles. Improving confidence in people’s literacy and numeracy empowers them to engage more in society, whether in civic duties, parenting, or managing personal affairs.  

 Let’s celebrate functional skills for their breadth and practical applications – and focus on how they best support apprenticeships, education and employment.  

  

Functional skills for adults are too vital to give up on

I can understand why many will welcome the government’s changes to reduce the minimum duration of apprenticeships from 12 to 8 months and remove the requirements for adult apprentices to pass functional English and maths qualifications to complete their apprenticeship.

It’s clear that some current apprentices don’t need the full 12 months to do their apprenticeship and that some employers are filtering out apprenticeship applicants who don’t already have functional skills. So these changes will better match people’s needs and open up opportunity more widely, right?

Wrong. England is already an outlier compared to apprenticeships in many other countries. Our apprenticeships are shorter than best practice countries like Germany, where they typically last two, three or four years. And they have less general education like English and maths. The OECD pointed out that general education in apprenticeships in England is limited to functional skills courses typically lasting around 100 hours in total. That compares to 400 hours in Switzerland, around 480 hours in Germany, and 588 hours in Norway.  

So apprentices in England are getting at most one quarter of the general education of apprentices in other leading countries, and even this requirement is now going to be removed for apprentices aged 19 and over.

But the government’s kept the English and maths requirements for apprentices aged under 19, so isn’t that fine? No. One in five adults in England has low literacy or numeracy. This is woeful. It holds back people’s career prospects and their ability to access public services. And these skills are only going to become more important over time.

A recent OECD survey found that young people’s English and maths had improved over the last decade, the result in part of policy efforts to change this such as the condition of funding rule in further education. But adults’ scores had gone backwards, the product of reduced focus as government austerity led to a 63 per cent fall in adults completing English and maths qualifications.

With 80 per cent of our 2035 workforce having already left compulsory education, and the bar of skills required for life and work rising, we need a renewed focused on these fundamentals for all. Not to take a step backwards.

The net result of these changes will likely be more people completing apprenticeships than would otherwise have done so. But those apprenticeships will be of lower quality than they could’ve been and prepare them less well for their future careers.

That is not a trade-off we need to make. If something is important but not working, the answer surely is to fix it, not just give up on it.

We need investment to test new ways to help apprentices succeed in English and maths, a focus on building these skills into occupational learning so people can see the relevance, and to reflect the extra time that this all takes in funding and support for employers.

We also need to be clear about what an apprenticeship is and what it isn’t. It is meant to be a job with substantial training and about your future career not just your current job. In trying to make everything an apprenticeship, in part because people recognise the brand, in part because large employers wanted to recoup as much of their levy payments as possible, the last Government lost its way somewhat.

This Government has a chance to change that, with a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy allowing valuable training that’s not an apprenticeship to be funded and focusing apprenticeships on what they’re meant to be about.

These changes take us in the wrong direction. And they won’t ultimately benefit apprentices or employers. Lowering standards only gives the false illusion of raising opportunity.

Tech exec and ex-DfE perm sec to lead Skills England

A tech industry leader and a former Department for Education (DfE) permanent secretary have been selected to lead Skills England. 

Labour’s flagship new skills agency will be chaired by Phil Smith who until last month was chair of semiconductor materials supplier IQE plc and was previously the chair of TechSkills.org, Innovate UK and Cisco, which he also led for over two decades as CEO. 

Smith will be joined at the top of Skills England by Sir David Bell, the former Ofsted chief inspector and DfE permanent secretary, as vice chair. 

Two job-sharing civil servants will take the reins as joint chief executives of Skills England.

Tessa Griffiths and Sarah Maclean, both currently directors for post-16 skills and strategy at the department, will take on the job and be joined by Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s skills director Gemma Marsh as their deputy CEO.

Labour set up Skills England in shadow form shortly after winning July’s general election. Once fully established, it will work across government to advise ministers on skills and funding policy, and work across government to co-ordinate strategy. 

It has already absorbed the functions of the former Unit for Future Skills and published its first report on the country’s skills needs in September. 

A bill currently going through parliament will abolish the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and transfer its functions to the Department for Education. 

Ministers have been criticised for establishing Skills England as an executive agency within the DfE, rather than as an independent statutory body. 

Speaking in a Lords debate on the bill last week, skills minister Jacqui Smith said: “I assure noble Lords that we have borne in mind the necessity to have strong credibility with employers in choosing who the non-executive chair will be. 

“Working with the board, the chair will provide the strong and independent leadership, support and challenge needed for Skills England to deliver its objectives.”

The rest of Skills England’s board have not yet been announced.

In the chair

Phil Smith will replace Richard Pennycook, who has led Skills England as interim chair since July. 

Smith has a four-decade career in the technology industry, working at electronics companies such as Phillips Electronics and IBM. 

Phil Smith

He is a former CEO and chair of software and network solutions company Cisco UK & Ireland, spending over 20 years with the company. He was later chair of Innovate UK for seven years and held chair roles at the Digital Skills Partnership Board, the Tech Partnership, and semiconductor supplier IQE PLC. He is currently chair of fintech brands Streeva and AppyWay. 

Smith is also a keen triathlete, having competed twice in the International Triathlon Union world final, representing Great Britain. 

He was awarded a CBE in 2019 for services to technology, business and skills. 

Bell returns to DfE

Sir David Bell

David Bell has had an extensive career in education. He started out as a primary school teacher in Glasgow until moving to education roles within English councils in the 1990s. He also was an Ofsted inspector until becoming the chief inspector in 2002 and later permanent secretary in the Department for Education between 2006 and 2012.  

He then moved to the University of Reading to become vice-chancellor and is currently vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland. 

Bell led an independent review in to the Education and Skills Funding Agency is 2022, which saw the agency stripped of its policy role to focus on funding.

Before the general election, Bell was commissioned by the Labour party to conduct a review into early years education provision. His findings called for a one-year strategy into early years, an increase to early years pupil premium and more regulation.

Chief executive trio

Tessa Griffiths and Sarah Maclean will jointly serve as CEO, while Gemma Marsh will serve as deputy CEO. 

MacLean and Griffiths have been job sharing in government roles for almost two decades. 

They’ve worked at the DfE for much of this time – including on A-levels, GCSEs and vocational education – but have also worked as directors of strategy and governance at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. 

Their experience also includes three years as deputy directors in the Cabinet Office, working on “intergovernmental relations and devolution capability”. 

In the early 2010s they worked on funding new free schools at the Education Funding Agency. 

In a DfE blog posted in 2013, they said job sharing allowed them to take on “stretching, difficult roles” that would have been difficult to do part time. 

They added: “Having someone at work on the days you are not there gives you a proper work-life balance and the opportunity to do a high-profile job at the same time.” 

The pair were awarded CBEs for their work on services to education and the government’s covid response having worked as directors of UK strategy at Test and Trace from June to November 2020, and as “lead policy and delivery” for the DfE’s covid response measures for the following two years. 

Skills England’s deputy CEO will be Gemma Marsh, currently the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s director of education, work and skills. 

She has been at the authority, one of the “trailblazers” in English devolution, since 2014. 

But she also has experience in central government, after a two-year secondment to Downing Street in 2021, to advise the government on “local delivery” of policy. 

English and maths rule scrapped for adult apprentices, DfE confirms

The government has confirmed it will axe English and maths functional skills exit requirements for adult apprentices with immediate effect.

Ministers have also revealed that the minimum duration of apprenticeships will be shortened from 12 to eight months from the next academic year.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced the major reforms today to mark National Apprenticeship Week, claiming that the changes slash red tape that will lead to a conservative estimate of 10,000 more apprentice completions a year.

FSQs out for adults but stay for 16-18s

As first revealed by FE Week last week, ministers will end the current requirement that apprentices aged 19 or older must pass level 2 functional skills courses to complete their apprenticeship.

The exit rule will be made optional for adults from today and can be applied to existing apprentices currently on-programme as well as new starters.

The DfE told FE Week that employers and providers will have until April 1, 2025 to “agree with their existing adult apprentices whether to continue or discontinue studying towards English and maths and will need to update their training plans accordingly”.

“We will be publishing updated funding rules shortly which set out more details regarding the policy change,” the department added.

There will be no change to the rule for 16 to 18 apprentices, who will still be required to pass level 2 functional skills exams to complete their apprenticeship.

Ministers have been warned by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers that not relaxing this exit requirement for young people risks making apprenticeships for this age group, which have plummeted over the past decade, even more “less attractive” to employers.

A DfE spokesperson said the change to English and maths rules for adult apprentices means “more learners can qualify in high demand sectors such as healthcare, social care and construction, helping to drove growth and meet government targets in key areas such as housebuilding”. They estimate this could mean “as many as 10,000 more apprentices per year will be able to complete their apprenticeship”.

The DfE added that this “does not mean that apprentices won’t be assessed on core English and maths skills relevant to their occupation, but it does mean that apprentices will be able to focus more on their paid work”.

Ben Rowland, chief executive of the AELP, said the functional skills exit requirement is “one of the biggest barriers providers, employers and apprentices face within the apprenticeship system, and has caused significant stress and missed opportunities for learners, meaning less progression and locking out many individuals from being able to access an apprenticeship opportunity”.

He added: “While good literacy and numeracy are important in work and life, it is right to remove this as an arbitrary requirement for adults.”

Jill Whittaker, co-founder and executive chair of hospitality apprenticeships provider HIT Training, told FE Week that removing the exit requirement for adults puts apprenticeships “on a level playing field with other post-16 programmes”.

However, she added that the sector must not “throw the baby out with the bathwater”. Providers must “continue to offer high quality English and maths support to those who want and need it”.

New 8-month minimum duration

The DfE first announced plans to shorten the minimum duration of apprenticeships during the Labour party conference in September.

The department today revealed that the current 12-month minimum will be reduced to eight months from August 2025, but this is “subject to the legislative timetable”.

Three “trailblazer apprenticeships” in key shortage occupations will look to “pioneer” the new shorter apprenticeship approach, with apprentices in green energy, healthcare and film/TV production set to be able to take on these new courses, according to the DfE.

The three standards are: level 2 dual fuel smart meter installers, level 2 healthcare support workers, and level 3 production assistants- screen and audio.

The DfE added that one of Skills England’s first orders of business will be to identify which apprenticeships would be best served by the shorter duration approach. 

Skills England, which had its leadership team announced today, will “prioritise key shortage occupations as per the industrial strategy, helping to boost growth under our Plan for Change”.

Phillipson said: “Businesses have been calling out for change to the apprenticeship system and these reforms show that we are listening. Our new offer of shorter apprenticeships and less red tape strikes the right balance between speed and quality, helping achieve our number one mission to grow the economy.” 

Federation of Small Businesses executive director, Craig Beaumont, said the flexibilities announced today “should help SME employers fill skills gaps faster”.

John Lewis Partnership’s executive director of people, Jo Rackham, added: “Gaining GCSE maths and English qualifications can be a significant barrier to starting or completing one and we believe it will help more disadvantaged people, including those who leave the care system or those with learning disabilities, make a career for themselves.”