Revealed: Funding rates and delivery hours for apprenticeship units

Funding rates for the inaugural batch of apprenticeship units will range from £750 up to £3,200, Skills England has revealed.

The government agency has today published the funding rate for each individual apprenticeship unit as well as minimum delivery hours.

An updated list has also split the single proposed AI leadership apprenticeship unit into three separate units, increasing the total number on offer from eight to ten.

All apprenticeship units have an earliest start date of April 28. A list of eligible training providers able to deliver the new short courses has not yet been released. The government previously said a limited group of “strong” apprenticeship providers will qualify to offer the first units.

The permanent modular building assembly apprenticeship unit attracts the most funding of £3,200, with minimum delivery hours set at 140 hours. This is followed by the welding unit with a funding rate of £2,100 for 90 hours.

Three units – mechanical fitting and assembly, electrical fitting and assembly, and battery manufacturing – have a £1,650 funding rate with 70 minimum delivery hours, while two units – electric vehicle (EV) charging point installation and maintenance, and solar PV installation and maintenance – have been assigned a £950 rate for 35 hours.

The three AI leadership units – in delivery and organisational transformation, adoption, procurement and governance, and strategy and opportunity – attract the lowest funding rate of £750 with delivery hours set at just 30 hours.

Apprenticeship units are new short courses to be funded through the reformed growth and skills levy for both large and small employers.

This is the first time levy funds can be used for non-apprenticeship training – a move that was promised by Labour in the party’s 2024 general election manifesto.

Apprenticeship units will only be for employed learners aged 19 and over whose employer has “identified a need to upskill them quickly to meet business needs and remain competitive”.

Units will not be eligible for learners “seeking to start a new career or occupation”.

Content for apprenticeship units comes from the knowledge and skills from existing apprenticeship occupational standards “needed to address specific critical skills gaps”, the government has said.

Training providers have, however, warned the apprenticeship units funding model is “not a winning formula” could choke off delivery before it begins.

Funding will be heavily end-loaded and paid on two milestones to providers. The first 30 per cent of the funding rate will be paid once the learner has completed 30 per cent of the planned delivery hours. The second milestone payment will come once the learner has completed all hours and passed a skills test.

It means a provider that delivers 90 per cent of planned hours when a learner drops out risks receiving just 30 per cent of the funding.

On top of this, the government said it would keep the “affordability” of apprenticeship units “under review” and could withdraw a unit with just four weeks’ notice.

Providers fear the model leaves them exposed and could dampen their appetite for involvement.