DfE’s latest consultation puts adult community education at risk

The suggested new outcomes are limited and do not relate to the wider benefits of adult learning, writes Sue Pember

Hidden in the recent technical consultation document on FE funding and accountability there are a few proposals which, if implemented, could fundamentally change the adult education offer for many millions of learners who have poor skills.

It will also impact on the Department for Education’s contribution to the “levelling up” agenda for those adults who are furthest away from formal education, work and society.

DfE are proposing to move away from this government’s established and successful policy for community learning which, in the past ten years, has been effective in supporting 400,000 adults annually improve their skills and lead more fulfilling lives.

(Adult community learning has also been described by the chair of the education select committee as the “jewel in the crown” of the FE sector).

That’s because the funding and accountability consultation document seems to have missed the point that many adult learners don’t sign up for their first course because they think it might lead to a better job or set them on a pathway to a brand-new suite of qualifications.

Most turn up to adult community education because they want a fresh start, they’re hoping to find a sense of community and to improve their wellbeing.

Adults who start off on community learning courses will often get hooked on adult community education and find themselves progressing onto other courses that are great for employability, but this often wasn’t their intention when they first turned up.

The need to get adults through the door of adult community education is fundamental if the government wishes to deliver on its promise to level up.

Currently, levels of economic inactivity are soaring and long-term illness is the main driver of record level vacancies.

Adult community education can provide a win-win, it is shown to boost adult mental health and can give the hardest to reach adults a path back to employment.

The need for adult education from entry to level 2 has become even more clear this week as the government published the evaluation of its “Free Courses for Jobs” scheme.

Over half of all providers said that some of their applicants did not hold the requisite level 1 or level 2 qualification to benefit from the level 3 course on offer.

The evaluation recommends that the government target support in making level 1 and Level 2 courses available for learners.

This demonstrates we need to create a pipeline of talent which is built from the foundations of adult community education.

The existing policy states the purpose of community learning is to develop adults to progress into formal learning or employment, improve their health and wellbeing and develop stronger communities.

This policy has provided stability and direction for the last 10 years and has helped millions of adults improve their lives.

Although the overall budget was capped and has not grown since 2010, the adult education sector has been proactive and played their part in building communities and delivering the “levelling up” agenda.

It has been building back since Covid and working with new cohorts of migrants from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan, in addition to those adults over 50 who have not returned to work since Covid. 

Therefore, it came as a bit of a shock that in the consultation on FE funding and accountability the DfE want to limit the scope of community education and duplicate activity already funded through the adult skills budget.

DfE want to limit the scope of community education

The proposed new remit is to use the adult community learning funding allocation to deliver courses that just lead to higher level jobs or further education (of course that’s important but that is the purpose of the main adult education budget).

It also proposes to drop the wider benefit of learning and the requirement to use the funds to develop stronger communities.

Programmes such as family learning, social prescribing, health and wellbeing and first steps ESOL would be lost.

These suggested new outcomes are limited and do not relate the wider benefits of adult learning.

They are restrictive and do not address the broader skills people require now and for the future, and they will undermine local decision making.

These changes will impact adversely on learners from the lowest economic groups, on women and those with health issues.

They will undermine the government’s “levelling up” agenda and put more strain on other services such as the NHS, Department for Work and Pensions and Home Office.

These proposed changes will impact adversely on learners from the lowest economic groups, on women and those with health issues.

It will close the pre-entry ladder to level 2 and 3 skills.

Removing building communities would also limit community engagement and weaken joint work with the NHS.

It would curtail the partnership subcontracting between community providers and the voluntary sector.

We need to ensure, through responding to the consultation that government is aware of what they could lose and stop the unintended consequences of such a change.

Unions threaten results day disruption as AQA staff plan three-day strike

Staff at the country’s largest exam board AQA will go on strike for three days later this month, with a union warning it could disrupt GCSE and A-level exam results.

Unison said today strike action in a row over pay will go ahead, with plans for a walkout between Friday 29 and Sunday 31 July.

The union says it has 180 members, including some staff involved in the awarding of grades, and that the action “could affect the delivery of thousands of GCSE and A-level results”.

But an AQA spokesperson said it had “robust plans in place” to ensure any industrial action did not stop students getting their results on time. 

“It’s a shame that Unison is claiming otherwise, as this is wrong and only serves needlessly to alarm students and teachers.”

Lizanne Devonport, regional organiser for the union in the north-west, said staff had been left with “no other option” than the walkout, plans of which were first revealed by FE Week’s sister publication, Schools Week.

She said a three per cent pay offer “isn’t a wage rise, it’s a pay cut with costs spiralling”.

“Workers only strike as a last resort. They’d rather be doing the job they’re proud of. They don’t want to disrupt students and know how important exam results are to them.”

Workers were given just days to accept the offer, or face a “fire and rehire” scenario, Unison claimed.

But an AQA spokesperson said it was offering an “affordable” pay rise higher than many other organisations, with the average pay increase standing at 5.6 per cent – as staff will also receive a pro rata £500 payment. Those below the top of their bands will see incremental increases.

The lowest-paid staff will receive higher pay offers, he added. He also noted the ballot only included around 160 members, when AQA had around 1,200 staff overall.

He claimed most staff did not support the action, adding: “Nearly nine out of ten of our staff have already opted in to our new pay framework and agreed to the pay rise, including many Unison members, so it’s hard to see what this strike is trying to achieve.” 

Unison said 71 per cent of voters backed industrial action and minimum turnout rules were reached. But AQA said “well under half of Unison’s own members” did not back the action overall, as only 56 per cent voted at all.

Let’s get more FE learners into the research sector

Roles previously considered ‘for uni graduates’ should be inundated with applications from college-leavers. Why aren’t they? asks Victoria Boelman

Covid has had an interesting impact on employment for FE leavers.

Within a few months of the virus hitting the UK, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – fearing, and seeking to fend off, a post-pandemic a wave of youth unemployment -launched the Kickstart scheme.

This was designed to create new jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds on universal credit, who were considered at risk of long-term unemployment.  

Smashing the ivory tower 

Where I work we were quick to sign up, hoping to support young people into careers in social research.

If you’re drawing a blank here, don’t worry – you’re not alone.

Asked what a career in social research might look like (or whether to recommend it to someone in further education) many don’t know what to say.

All too often, it’s seen as an opaque, ivory-tower profession, preserved for those with PhDs.

It certainly does not represent many of those whose voices it seeks to elevate. 

The truth is, social research is a vast profession that covers a range of skills, from data analysis to arts-based storytelling.

Social researchers can be found everywhere – from government to major companies that are household names, charities, and academia.

Yet, despite this breadth, it’s hard to make a social research career seem tangible or accessible to a young person.

Some core skills do not rely on any specific qualification – particularly communication, creativity and teamwork. But the sad reality is the profession is not as diverse as it should be.

We saw kickstart as our chance to challenge this and set out to recruit a cohort of young people from FE, rather than from traditional HE backgrounds.

Between May 2021 and July this year, 22 young people took up this opportunity and discovered that, despite often having only the vaguest of ideas about what a social researcher might do all day, they could build the skills necessary for success.

Together, they designed and delivered research on issues as diverse as fatphobia, financial literacy and being a young person with ADHD in the workplace.

And we, as an organisation, have grown so much from their input, while also seeing many of our kickstarters grown their skills and confidence immeasurably.  

Greater ambition 

We now publish our evaluation of this work – which, sadly, has shown just how hard it is to attract young people from less traditional, non-university backgrounds into this kind of role.

Our aim was specifically to provide opportunities to school – and college-leavers.

Yet fewer than a third of those that applied to our programme had not attended HE, and we had to work hard with local job centres to raise the necessary understanding for them to put the opportunity to young people. 

There were many flaws in the way the programme was implemented by DWP, and The Young Foundation, as an organisation, has also learned much along the way.

What we most want to see in the future for such schemes is a greater ambition and belief in what young people from FE can achieve.

Ambition about the types of careers available to young people leaving FE.

Ambition about the types of organisations who can deliver valuable and meaningful opportunities.

And ambition about breaking down barriers across geography, socio-economic divides, and cultural backgrounds. 

In a (post)-pandemic world, where hybrid and remote work are increasingly possible, greater opportunity should be blossoming for FE leavers, regardless of their location or circumstance.

But these opportunities are worthless if young people don’t know about them. That’s the missing link, and greater support for advisers working in colleges and job centres is vital in bridging it.  

The social research profession desperately needs to diversify, and our experience shows that young people from further education have both the talent and the ambition to drive exciting work in this field – if only they’re given the chance. 

Anglia Ruskin University apprenticeships ‘require improvement’, Ofsted says

Anglia Ruskin University, which trains more than 2,000 apprentices, has been handed a ‘requires improvement’ rating by Ofsted, after concerns were found in curriculum planning and progress for those with learning difficulties.

The university, which runs campuses in Chelmsford, Cambridge and Peterborough, has just over 2,000 apprentices across 22 different higher-level programmes, largely in the healthcare, construction, digital and business management sectors.

Ofsted rated the university ‘requires improvement’ overall following a visit in May. Personal development and behaviour and attitude were rated ‘good’.

Ofsted said apprentices’ experiences varied too much between programmes, highlighting that “too many healthcare assistant apprentices struggle to keep up with the workload,” while “too few chartered surveyor apprentices successfully complete their apprenticeship programme”.

Elsewhere, planning issues were highlighted by the education watchdog, which said planning was “poor on a minority of courses” and “did not always consider the study requirements of the professional body when planning”.

The report said that existing skills and knowledge were not considered enough in planning the curriculum, while “too few apprentices with a learning difficulty and/or disability receive effective support to enable them to make progress in line with their peers”.

The report praised the collaborative environment and found that apprentices felt valued and respected, but said that while most who reach the end of their programme achieve their qualification, too many take breaks in learning or withdraw from their programme.

Registered nurse apprentices were found to be working above their contracted hours, while progress reviews were infrequent, inspectors said.

The university says action on specific points has already begun.

A spokesperson from Anglia Ruskin University said: “ARU’s apprenticeship programmes play a key role in addressing skills shortages, supporting local economies and transforming the lives of the students. The qualifications that our students go on to achieve are as important and valued as ever. 

 “We were encouraged to see Ofsted’s report highlight our good practices in many areas, and we will make sure that these are implemented across all of our apprenticeship courses. 

“We have already put in place measures to address specific points raised in this report, and we look forward to demonstrating our progress.” 

Free courses for jobs: seven findings from early analysis of the scheme

Three quarters of learners on the government’s free courses for jobs (FCFJ) scheme would not have studied had it not been free, early analysis has found – with plenty of learners retraining for new careers.

The FCFJ scheme was established last year for learners aged 19 and upwards without a level 3 qualification or higher to achieve a recognised qualification for free.

It was extended to those who already hold a level 3 but earned below the national living wage, and those who are unemployed.

This week, the Department for Education published an early study carried out by Pye Tait Consulting, which analysed the performance of the scheme between its launch in April 2021 and November 2021.

Here are some of the main findings.

Uptake has increased

Compared to the 2018/19 baseline, Pye Tait reports that starts of funded learners on eligible courses have increased by 54 per cent, from 7,123 to 11,042 between April and November 2021.

It said that starts are up in all nine English regions, and around three quarters of applicants said they would not have done their course had it not been free.

The report acknowledged that its study only covered the first eight months, but said that enrolments have continued to increase.

“The evidence gathered through this evaluation indicates that full funding level 3 qualifications via Free Courses for Jobs is making a difference to uptake for learners from all backgrounds, and particularly for those on low income, who are unemployed, or have other living costs (such as childcare),” the document said.

Learners are opting for new careers

Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of surveyed learners said their course was in a sector they had no involvement in before.

Pye Tait said it suggests the scheme is “enabling labour market transitions to some extent”.

The most popular sector was health and social care, with courses in building and construction also popular.

Providers are offering more courses

The research said that just over three quarters of providers participating in the study were offering a wider range of courses than before FCFJ.

Nearly two thirds reported offering more remote live classes, and 63 per cent employing more staff to deliver adult education courses.

Around 400 courses are eligible under the scheme.

Funding for providers

Two in five of the surveyed providers said the funding is adequate for them to increase the number of learners, but one in five said it wasn’t enough to provide additional support, such as employing additional staff, marketing, or developing the course.

Those providers suggest more flexibility in the cash so that it remains ringfenced to deliver level 3 adult education but allow them to better suit the needs of their local area market.

Prior skills a concern

Providers say they have noticed applicants holding no prior level 1 or 2 qualifications, insufficient maths or English skills, or other necessary requirements.

The study found 53 per cent of providers reported some of their applicants holding no prior level 1 qualification, rising to 67 per cent saying some had no level 2 either.

71 per cent of providers surveyed said some learners had insufficient English skills, while 69 per cent said some applicants were not at the standard for maths or other prerequisite skills.

While most have been signposting to the necessary level 1 or 2s – and some have provided tailored support or put learners on transition courses (including a quarter of providers utilising funding from the scheme to set up transition courses) – others report that they do not have the resources or finance to do so.

Some have suggested funding Level 1 or 2 courses, or English and maths, may be more beneficial.

Barriers to learning remain…

The scheme was designed to remove one of the key barriers to learning for those without a level 3 qualification – the cost of doing a course.

Accordingly, two in five surveyed said they no longer had any barrier to their study, but for others some challenges still remain.

More than one in four said caring responsibilities made access to learning a problem, while one in five said other financial considerations such as travel costs or costs of equipment remained an impediment.

One in 10 reported a lack of support from their employer or not having a computer at home as barriers to learning.

Some were choosing more remote-based courses as a result.

…prompting recommendations for more support

Pye Tait has recommended the Department for Education gives “careful thought” to providing greater financial support for low-income learners, to ensure learning remains accessible.

It recommends looking at targeted support in two key areas – financial costs such as travel or equipment, and covering costs of related level 1 or 2 courses to enable transition.

Other recommendations are around case studies for minority backgrounds to boost take-up there, and ongoing communication and marketing nationally to raise awareness for the offer.

Calls renewed for apprenticeship incentive payments as data shows ‘rebalance’ towards young people

Over three-quarters of the near 200,000 apprenticeship incentive payment claims were made for young people, new data has revealed, prompting fresh calls for incentives to be brought back.

The Department for Education published data this morning which showed that 195,590 claims were made by employers for the incentive scheme, which ran from August 2020 until the end of January this year.

More than three quarters – 77 per cent – were for new apprentices aged 16-24, with 23 per cent for those aged 25 and over.

The scheme was introduced by then-chancellor Rishi Sunak in August 2020 as part of his Plan for Jobs initiative, and offered firms £2,000 to take on apprentices aged 16-24, or £1,500 for those who employed a new apprentice aged 25 or above.

That incentive was then increased to £3,000 in March 2021 until September, before an extension until the end of January was confirmed. That extension period in itself saw a further 40,000 apprentices recruited under the scheme.

The data has prompted the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) – which has lobbied for an extension on multiple occasions – to renew its calls for the incentive to return.

Chief executive Jane Hickie said: “AELP lobbied for enhanced employer apprenticeship incentives as part of the Plan for Jobs, as we were confident that they would have a positive impact on apprenticeship uptake. The data proves that we were correct.

“Not only did apprenticeship starts increase at a difficult time in the economy, but incentives also led to positive impact on social mobility and rebalancing the system. 77 per cent of new apprentice starts as a result of the incentives were under 24 years old, 83 per cent of starts were at levels 2 and 3, with SMEs particularly benefiting.

“But since the incentives came to an end, we’ve already seen a reduction in both starts and vacancies.

“This is exactly why AELP are calling for a return of incentives – targeted at young people – which could be delivered by recycling unspent apprenticeship funding that would otherwise be returned to the Treasury.”

According to the DfE, health, public services and care were the sectors which accounted for the most claims – one in every four, while the business, administration, law, engineering and manufacturing technologies sectors made up around one in every five applications.

The DfE said over the 18 months of the programme, between 5,000 and 10,000 learners typically started on incentive schemes each month, although nearly 40,000 started in September 2021.

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute, said: “It’s welcome to see a high proportion of apprenticeship incentives going to young people and at levels 2 and 3 – the groups and levels that have seen the biggest falls in recent years.

“It’s likely the incentives made something of a difference during the pandemic, but without a proper evaluation it’s not possible to tell how many would have happened anyway. For the future, we need a clear strategy to increase employer investment in skills as a whole, and in particular for young people and those with lower level qualifications.”

The DfE has been approached for comment.

Next step in adult education funding overhaul

Proposals for multi-year adult education budgets, “simplified” funding bands and public provider performance dashboards have been firmed up as the government presses ahead with its overhaul of adult education funding in England. 

Officials at the Department for Education published proposals to reform funding and accountability models a year ago but have today released a second stage consultation with more detail. 

Some accountability reforms will be rolled out in the coming 22/23 academic year, while the more ambitious funding reforms are proposed to take place in 23/24 and in to the next spending review period. 

The second stage consultation focuses on implementation, with the sector now being asked to provide feedback on five new proposed funding bands for adult education courses, a successor to the adult education budget (AEB) and bringing in a lagged funding model for adult education. 

Here’s what you need to know:

AEB becomes the skills fund

DfE is pressing ahead with its proposal to introduce a “simpler” adult education funding model and had originally proposed to consolidate seven separate funding lines into a single skills fund. 

It now proposes that, starting in 23/24, colleges will receive a combined AEB (including community learning) and free courses for jobs (FCFJ) allocation under the ‘skills fund’ heading. 

A decision will be made at the next spending review on integrating the FCFJ pot into mainstream budgets.  

Funding for skills bootcamps and adult training funding from the UK shared prosperity fund, will though continue to be separate. 

The idea is that a combined skills fund will free up providers to be more responsive to local needs. 

Colleges will sign new accountability agreements which are promised to be “significantly shorter than current funding agreements” according to DfE. 

The new agreements will stipulate the national priorities the fund can be spent on, as well as highlighting specific ringfences and rules for non-qualification provision and development of “innovative” new courses. 

The Department wants to “re-orientate the vision for non-qualification provision” by proposing that all provision must achieve at least one of three set objectives; achieving employment, progression to further learning that brings learners close to employment and helping learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to access independent living.

Colleges will also have to set themselves “a small number of outcome targets” and set out how they will adapt their provision to meet local needs as part of the agreements. 

There will be a draft later this year.

DfE also wants to push ahead with its plans to move away from setting allocations based on historic performance towards a “needs-based” funding formula to be introduced in the next spending review period. 

Another set of budgets to be consolidated are the various sector support grants. After the next spending review, the strategic development fund, college collaboration fund, workforce industry exchange programme, higher technical education growth fund and the FE professional development grant will become a single ‘development fund’.  

Getting a grip on devolved authorities

The current level of adult education budget spent in devolved combined authorities is 60 per cent. That figure is set to grow continually over the coming years until the ambitions of the government’s levelling up ambition of a wholly-devolved adult skills system is realised. 

The DfE reports that providers were uneasy about inconsistencies in funding and assurance approaches as the list of adult education commissioning bodies is set to grow ever larger. 

As well as bringing in a needs-based formula for mayoral combined authorities, the DfE wants local areas to use a national funding model it develops when designing and implementing their plans for the skills fund. 

“Taking this approach would mean any differences between local areas had a clear rationale and would minimise the extent of differences that employers and providers need to navigate,” today’s document says.

A rise in rates for priority provision

Courses in high priority skills areas could see funding rates rise from 2023/24. 

This Autumn, courses will be organised in to SSA categories and placed in one of five funding bands; base, low, middle, high and specialist with a set hourly funding rate. 

Courses in health and social care currently attract a “low” programme weighting, but are proposed to be added to the “middle” funding band in the new system. Engineering courses, currently in the “medium” category could be moved to “high”.

The Department promises that the rates set for each band will be informed by analysis of skills needs and new research it has conducted on delivery costs. 

This way, it argues, a higher funding premium is attached to courses for in-demand skills and those that are more expensive to staff and deliver. 

No SSA will be moved to a lower funding band than existing programmes, the DfE has said, and accommodations will be made for advanced learner loan funded students in courses attracting higher funding rates.

The future is lagged

Once the new funding rates are in place, the DfE wants to end the cycle of allocation and reconciliation. 

Despite receiving a “mixed response” in the consultation, the DfE says it “continues to think a lagged approach [to the skills fund], which gives providers a firm allocation for the immediate year, is the best approach.”

However the model won’t change until the new funding bands are established and devolved authorities will be free to choose whether or not to follow suit. 

Providers and MCAs can also look forward to multi-year allocations. 

The DfE proposes to provide 23/24 and 24/25 skills fund allocations based on 22/23 allocations unless there’s evidence of a shortfall or over-delivery. Mayoral combined authorities will receive an indicative 24/25 budget with their 23/24 allocation.

Bringing down the data burden?

Officials are developing a new data collection system which could eliminate the need for regular ILR returns. According to today’s document, work is underway to develop “an online ILR collection approach where data is stored within DfE data storage”.

There were no timescales attached to this proposal. 

However one of the benefits would be to provide timely data for the new FE performance dashboard and the new Unit for Future Skills. 

Providers will certainly welcome a reduced data burden, however any excitement may be short-lived. 

Said FE performance dashboard contains a range of new performance measures which seem to complement, rather than replace, existing measures like the performance tables, NARTs and outcome measures. 

The new skills measure, proposed somewhat vaguely a year ago, will be a complex calculation of “expected progression rate” of students against their “actual progression rate” while also taking into account learner characteristics like free school meals and prior attainment, as well as the provider’s local economic context. 

The dashboard will not include, as was originally proposed, the provider’s ESFA financial health grade because doing so “could negatively impact on learner enrolment and employer engagement, making a provider’s financial position worse.”

The dashboard will be rolled out in 23/24 and could look like this (click to enlarge):

Example performance dashboard within adult education accountability reforms.
Example performance dashboard

Providers, learners and representative organisations can see the proposals in full here and have until September 21 to respond to the consultation.

Ungraded and ‘requires improvement’ providers can deliver more T Levels sooner

Providers without an Ofsted grade can now apply to deliver more T Levels sooner, along with those with a ‘requires improvement’ rating. 

In an update to its T Level guidance for providers this morning, the Department for Education has made more providers eligible to deliver more T Levels from September 2023.

The Department says this is “to ensure as many young people as possible can benefit from them.”

The update also confirms that the T Level in animal care and management, originally planned to be introduced in 2023, has been delayed to 2024.

The new guidance states that providers with a ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted rating, and those without one at all, can now apply to deliver T Levels that launch this September from September 2023.

Those are T Levels in:

  • accounting
  • design and development for engineering and manufacturing
  • engineering, manufacturing, processing and control
  • finance
  • maintenance, installation and repair for engineering and manufacturing
  • management and administration

Before now, providers had to be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ to deliver the 2022 T Levels in 2023. Earlier this week, £74 million in capital funding was awarded to colleges in preparation for 2023 starts.

All providers however are eligible to deliver T Levels introduced in 2020 and 2021 from September 2023 regardless of Ofsted rating. 

The change signals the Department’s intention to grow the provider-base for T Levels when the national roll-out commences next year.

“Until now, only Ofsted ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ providers have been eligible to deliver T Levels first introduced in 2022 from 2023. We are now extending this to allow providers with a ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted or with no formal Ofsted designation to deliver these T Levels” the guidance states. 

Providers graded ‘inadequate’ will still only be allowed to deliver the T Levels introduced in 2020 and 2021 in 2023.

Along with the appropriate Ofsted grade, providers need a 16-19 student programme contract to be eligible to apply. 

This change comes just days before an upcoming registration deadline. 

Providers wishing to deliver T Levels from September 2023 must register with the Department by July 29, 2022 in order to access up-front delivery funding.

T Levels Ofsted eligibility table

 

‘Big win’ for providers as ESFA unveils new apprenticeship funding rules

Apprenticeship providers’ qualification achievement rates could soon be improved after the government changed its funding rules around breaks in employment.

New English and maths flexibilities have also been extended to apprentices currently on-programme, while a controversial rule that put funding at risk where apprentices drop-out without making enough progress towards their planned training has been removed.

The changes have finally been revealed in version one of the apprenticeship funding rules for 2022/23 published today by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. It follows the draft rules released in May.

The latest rules show that from next month, providers will no longer need to withdraw an apprentice where they have a break in employment for more than 30 days.

Instead, providers can place the apprentice on a break in learning but must withdraw the apprentice if they do not restart with a new employer within 12 weeks.

Until now every apprentice that changed employer partway through their programme was automatically counted as a non-achieving leaver if they did not commence new employment within 30 days. This would in turn bring down an individual provider’s retention and overall qualification achievement rate.

Simon Ashworth, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers director of policy, said: “The new eight week extension – through a break in learning – will reduce the number of non-completions.

“It’s a big win for learners, providers and employers alike – and something that AELP has campaigned on over a number of years.”

The move comes a month after then skills minister Alex Burghart set a new “ambitious” target for an overall 67 per cent achievement rate on apprenticeship standards by 2025 – a 15 percentage point increase on the latest reported rate.

Ashworth added: “This is also a step in the right direction with the success rate methodology. We know the current methodology is not fit for purpose and, without reform, will impact on the sector’s ability to meet the new 67 per cent overall success rate ambition by 2025.”

Several other amendments from the draft rules, which were published in May, have also been made to version one.

The draft rules said that people who start a level 2 apprenticeship without level 1 English and maths will no longer need to automatically attempt level 2 English and maths tests to complete their apprenticeship.

In version one, the ESFA has confirmed that this flexibility has been extended to all eligible apprentices – including those currently on-programme and not just new starts from August 2022.

Elsewhere, the agency previously said that where an apprentice withdraws from their programme and they have made “insufficient progress towards their training plan”, then funds will be at risk of recovery.

By insufficient progress the ESFA meant where the apprentice is “more than four weeks behind on the planned delivery of training, but the training has not been replanned or the apprentice has not been put on a break in learning”.

The agency appears to have rowed back on this rule and removed it after providers complained it was impractical.

Additionally, the ESFA has introduced a new rule for training plans and documentation of prior learning.

It states that where an assessment has been made and the result of this assessment is that no relevant prior learning exists, providers “must agree this with the employer and document this in the evidence pack before starting the apprenticeship”.

Funds will now be at risk if a provider is not able to “show, upon request, an up-to-date training plan and current progress towards this training plan”. The agency said these rules have been strengthened due to feedback from audits and investigations.