apprenticeships | FE Week

Trailblazer group alarm over funding band reviews

A trailblazer group chair has warned that its “years of hard work” in developing two apprenticeships standards could be undone, after they were included in the Institute for Apprenticeships’ second funding band review. The level two supply chain warehouse operative and large goods vehicle driver standards were among 30 standards named on the list announced […]

DfE pauses publication of monthly apprenticeship starts

The Department for Education has yet to reveal how many people have started apprenticeships in 2018/19 – even though it had been publishing monthly updates until now. Provisional figures for the final month of 2017/18 were published in October, and numbers for August – the first month of 2018/19 – were expected alongside today’s final […]

Apprenticeships starts down nearly a quarter last year

Apprenticeship numbers fell by almost a quarter last year compared to the year before, according to final figures published by the Department for Education this morning. There were 375,800 apprenticeship starts in 2017/18, a drop of 118,600 – or 24 per cent – on 2016/17’s total of 494,400, and a decrease of 26 per cent […]

DfE urgently seeking answers to why level two apprenticeships fell by 38%

The Department for Education is urgently seeking to “improve understanding” of what’s behind the drop in level two apprenticeships, as the latest statistics show numbers have fallen by more than a third in the space of a year. There were just 161,400 starts at level two in 2017/18, according to the final apprenticeship figures for […]

Levy budget bust: Government agency warns of imminent apprenticeship over-spend

The apprenticeships budget for England is set to be overspent by £0.5 billion this year, rising to £1.5 billion during 2021/22, according to the government agency for apprenticeships. The warning from the Institutes for Apprenticeships follows a refusal from the Department for Education last month to answer FE Week’s questions concerning the full levy costs. […]

Ofsted finds no off-the-job training at care sector apprenticeship provider

A care sector apprenticeship provider has been heavily criticised by Ofsted for failing to give its apprentices any off-the-job training. Premier Nursing Agency Limited was found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in two out of three themes under review in an early monitoring report published today. The damning report comes just two and a half […]

AELP consulting on proposals to avoid EPA ‘car crash’

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers is seeking input from its members on how to avoid an apprenticeship end point assessment “car crash”. The consultation builds on widespread concerns from across the sector about a lack of assessor capacity, as the number of apprentices needing to sit their final exams grows. “The warning lights […]

Revealed: Six more apprenticeship providers banned from taking new recruits

Six more poor-performing apprenticeship providers have been barred from taking on new starts – bringing the total up to 12. The penalties were revealed in the latest update to the register of apprenticeship training providers, dated October 11. It means that the Education and Skills Funding Agency has wielded its powers against all new apprenticeship […]

Major subcontractor heavily criticised in ‘insufficient’ Ofsted monitoring visit report

A major subcontractor has been heavily criticised in a new apprenticeship provider Ofsted monitoring visit report that found it to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in all areas under review. Cumbria-based NC Training started delivering levy-funded apprenticeships in July 2017, but also held eight subcontracts worth £1.6 million last year. The verdict means it can expect […]