Young people without grade 4 GCSEs in English and maths are being shut out from hundreds of entry-level apprenticeships intended to provide a first step into work.
An FE Week analysis of all 1,286 level 2 vacancies advertised through the government’s Find an Apprenticeship service on September 18 found 252 – almost one in five – made grade 4 or higher in both subjects an ‘essential’ entry requirement.
Only 12 of those adverts explicitly said functional skills or equivalent alternative qualifications would be accepted. A further 125 vacancies required passes in both subjects at a lower or unspecified grade.
The findings come ahead of the final report from Alan Milburn’s independent review into young people and work, which was commissioned by ministers amid concern that around one million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
Milburn’s interim report said the apprenticeship system “ought to be one of the main routes” through which employers bring young people into work, but warned the entry-level provision needed most by those outside employment had been “hollowed out”.
His review found six in ten NEET young people had never had a job, up from four in ten in 2005, although 84 per cent wanted work, education or training.
Entry requirements vary
FE Week’s analysis found entry requirements varied significantly between apprenticeships at the same level.
Grade 4s in both English and maths were essential in 29 of the 38 accounts or finance assistant vacancies, 16 of 22 leisure team member roles, and 17 of 29 autocare technician adverts.
The requirement appeared in 41 of 112 customer service practitioner vacancies and 41 of 135 pharmacy services assistant adverts.
By contrast, none of the 152 production chef or 32 equine groom vacancies demanded grade 4s in both subjects. Just one of 53 food and beverage team member adverts and four of 106 adult care worker vacancies did so.
Across occupational groups, 44 per cent of vacancies in business, finance, customer service and retail, and 42 per cent in engineering, manufacturing and automotive imposed the grade 4 threshold. The equivalent figure for hospitality and food was 2 per cent.
Overall, 377 vacancies – 29 per cent – made passes in both subjects essential at some grade. Four hundred listed both as desirable rather than essential, while 507 listed neither.
A separate FE Week review of the 20 foundation apprenticeship vacancies found none listing English or maths qualifications as essential or desirable. Foundation apprenticeships are level 2 programmes designed to help young people progress into a full apprenticeship, further study or skilled work.
Research commissioned by the Youth Futures Foundation found apprenticeship opportunities had declined by 31 per cent since the apprenticeship levy’s introduction, while there were 4.4 interested young people for every vacancy.
Skills England’s annual report said the risk of becoming NEET was more than twice as high for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with low qualifications. It also found recruiters often overlooked young people’s capabilities by prioritising formal qualifications and paid experience.
A missing first rung
A new level 2 administration assistant apprenticeship opened to under-25s last month following a six-year campaign led by employers and training providers.
Its predecessor, the business administration framework, attracted around 30,000 starts annually before it was scrapped in 2020, 83 per cent of them under 19.
Employers and providers spent years arguing that the absence of a replacement had removed a vital route for young people who left school with low GCSE grades.
But 16 of the 30 live vacancies for the new standard made grade 4 English and maths essential.
Twenty-one required both subjects at some grade, five made them desirable and four listed neither. None of the 16 grade-4 adverts explicitly mentioned functional skills or other equivalents in the essential qualifications field.
Sharon Blyfield, co-chair of the administration assistant trailblazer group and head of early careers at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, said: “As a group of employers, we campaigned hard to create an accessible apprenticeship that would give all young people with the drive to work a first step on their career ladder.
“It’s disappointing to see barriers like these put in front of young people, and we ask all employers and training providers to ask themselves if these entry requirements really are essential.”
The standard itself does not specify grade 4 GCSEs as an entry requirement.
‘Crude proxy for capability’
Apprentices aged 16 to 18 who start without approved English and maths qualifications must study them during their programme. Those starting below level 1 must achieve at least level 1 to complete, while those who already hold level 1 must study and take assessments at level 2, but do not have to pass them.
Since February 2025, English and maths exit requirements have been optional for apprentices who were aged 19 or older when they started.
Ben Rowland, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said the findings suggested GCSE grades were “still too often used as a crude but widespread proxy for capability, even on apprenticeships intended as entry routes into work”.
“We recognise that achievement in English and maths is associated with a greater chance of career success. But a lower statistical chance of success should not mean no chance at all,” he added.
Rowland said English and maths were difficult and costly to deliver, particularly where an apprentice had struggled at school, making it “rational” for employers and providers to filter those applicants out.
AELP wants mandatory English and maths exit requirements removed for under-19 apprentices, with employers setting entry criteria only where necessary for the role, and providers funded to provide the support young people need.
LJ Rawlings, chief executive of Youth Employment UK, said: “If a role is genuinely entry level, employers need to design the recruitment process accordingly. Asking for multiple qualifications and significant prior experience for a level 2 job risks shutting out exactly the young people these opportunities should help into work.
“We consistently hear from young people that lack of experience is one of the biggest barriers they face. Employers can’t say they want to widen access while simultaneously setting requirements that assume candidates have already had opportunities to build that experience.
“The better question is what someone genuinely needs on day one, what can be learned on the job, and how employers assess potential as well as prior attainment. Good youth employment means removing unnecessary barriers, not building them into the person specification.”
Provider promises advert changes
The requirements also differed between providers delivering the same apprenticeship.
Twenty-three of the 25 pharmacy services assistant vacancies associated with CoreEd demanded grade 4s in both subjects. Another provider, I&F, operating as Skills4Pharmacy, listed the same grades as essential in nine of its 71 vacancies, and desirable in the remaining 62.
CoreEd managing director Airam Neesa told FE Week her organisation advised employers, posted vacancies on their behalf and took responsibility for how the adverts read.
Employers wanted apprentices with a secure grounding in English and maths, she said, but achieving the qualifications alongside a full-time job was challenging for people who had struggled with them at school.
Neesa acknowledged the adverts presented the requirements “far more rigidly” than CoreEd applied them. Applicants without GCSEs or functional skills were not automatically rejected and recognised equivalents were accepted.
“Where someone doesn’t yet have their English and maths but has the commitment, and we can put the right support in place, we take them on,” she added.
Across its 160 active level 2 pharmacy services assistant apprentices, CoreEd has 18 live functional skills learning aims: 11 in maths and seven in English.
Neesa said the provider was recruiting a dedicated functional skills tutor and would update its adverts to reflect the support available once the tutor was in post.
Employers retain control
Earlier this week, a Fabian Society report called for foundation apprenticeships to be expanded to level 1 and all sectors, with levy funds used to cover half of an apprentice’s wage. Just 160 young people began a foundation apprenticeship between their launch in August 2025 and April this year, against a government ambition of 30,000 starts by July 2029.
Ministers say they are reforming the system to reverse the decline in starts among young people, including creating 50,000 additional opportunities and offering non-levy-paying employers £2,000 for taking on a young apprentice.
A government spokesperson declined to say whether grade 4 requirements were appropriate for level 2 roles or risked excluding the young people ministers wanted apprenticeships to reach.
“It is up to employers to decide the requirements they feel are appropriate for their apprenticeship vacancies,” the spokesperson said.
“We recognise the value of English and maths qualifications and that is why we fund apprentices to secure these as part of their training.”