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1 May 2026

Tag: apprenticeships

Monthly apprenticeships update: June starts down 40 per cent on 2016

Apprenticeship starts for June are down 40 per cent on the same month in 2016 – but up 57 per cent on last year. There have been 22,300 starts recorded so far in June 2018, compared with 37,000 in June 2016 according to the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s monthly apprenticeship statistics update, published this morning. […]

IfA funding band review: Healthcare standard set for 67 per cent funding increase

A healthcare apprenticeship standard is set to have its funding band increased by a massive 67 per cent following the Institute for Apprenticeships’ rate review. The level three senior healthcare support worker will have its maximum funding cap increased from £3,000 to £5,000, according to Jane Hadfield, national senior programme manager for apprenticeships at Health Education […]

Ofsted slaps provider with grade 4 after evidence of copy and paste assessments

A Newcastle-based training provider with contracts worth £3.5 million last year is facing having them pulled after receiving the lowest possible grade overall from Ofsted this week. But Northern Construction Training and Regeneration was rated ‘good’ for its apprenticeships provision, meaning it’s likely to keep its place on the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s apprenticeships […]

DfE in firing line with former skills minister for ‘misrepresentation’ and ‘discourtesy’

Chair of the education select committee Robert Halfon has accused the Department for Education of misrepresentation and discourtesy. Yesterday afternoon the DfE published a blog, aimed at journalists, that claimed the former skills minister gave inaccurate apprenticeship figures in an interview with the BBC Today programme that morning. Mr Halfon says this clearly misrepresented what […]

IfA refuses to reveal funding band review recommendations

The Institute for Apprenticeships will not publicly reveal the recommendations from its funding band review – despite sharing them with the employer groups involved. A number of those employer groups have come forward with the outcomes, and FE Week has reported on six of them. But despite repeated requests for the full list, the IfA […]

Government no longer backing its own 3m apprenticeship manifesto commitment

The Department for Education has, for the first time, refused to commit to its 3m apprenticeship starts target, after a spokesperson for the prime minister dodged the question this morning. The target has been included in the past two Conservative party election manifestos, but with starts falling it’s slipping ever further out of reach. At […]

IfA funding rate review: Customer service set for 13 per cent cut

Yet another popular apprenticeship standard is set to have its funding cut, following the Institute for Apprenticeship’s rate review. The level two customer service practitioner standard will have its funding cap reduced by 13 per cent – from £4,000 to £3,500 –  according to documents shared with FE Week. It’s currently the third most popular […]

Ofsted given final say over new apprenticeship provider quality

Ofsted has officially been given the final say over poor-performing apprenticeship providers following an early monitoring visit, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has confirmed today. FE Week reported back in May that the move was on the cards, following embarrassment for the government over apprenticeship accountability. According to the ESFA’s ‘Removal from register of […]