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24 April 2026

Tag: IfA

IfA funding rate review: retailer standard facing 20 per cent cut

The retailer apprenticeship standard is facing a 20 per cent funding cut, following the Institute for Apprenticeships’ review. The level two standard will have its funding cap reduced from £5,000 to £4,000, FE Week has learned. It’s currently the 13th most popular standard, responsible for 2,750 starts in the first nine months of 2017/18. Annette […]

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 […]

IfA yet to review duplicate and low-skill standards

The Institute for Apprenticeships has yet to carry out any formal review of duplicate, narrow or low-skill standards – two years after being urged to do so by influential peer Lord Sainsbury. Demands are growing for the institute to “take stock” and focus on quality rather than numbers, with 300 standards now approved for delivery […]

21 new members appointed to IfA apprentice panel

The Institute for Apprenticeships’ apprentice panel will have 21 new members when it next meets on July 4. A week ago, the former skills minister Robert Halfon said the IfA should “get its act together”, following revelations that the panel hadn’t met in nearly 10 months. “The voice of the apprentice is central to the […]

Skills minister: IfA is better but still not fast enough

The number of approved apprenticeship standards has exceeded those awaiting sign-off for the first time, but the skills minister still wants to see things done ‘faster and better’. In fact, a tough-talking Anne Milton told FE Week that she has pursued the Institute for Apprenticeships over the need to pick up the pace with “a […]

Scrap the Institute for Apprenticeships, says Lords report

The Institute for Apprenticeships should be scrapped, according to an influential committee that sits in the House of Lords. The Lords economic affairs committee has also poured scorn on the government’s target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020. “The IfA should be abolished,” it said in a new report. The role of the institute […]

Dismay after rail specialist chosen as quality-assurer for digital apprenticeships

A firm of rail specialists have been chosen to replace the Tech Partnership as the external quality-assurance provider for digital apprenticeships, in a move said to “defy all logic”. It was announced on Tech Partnership’s website that its members had agreed to pass “the baton” to the National Skills Academy for Rail, for EQA of […]

Institute for Apprenticeships appoints new board members

The Institute for Apprenticeships has appointed two new members to join its board, six months after one former member, Sir Gerry Berragan, was promoted to become its chief executive. Jessica Leigh Jones and Professor Malcolm Press will join the board from June 1, according to an announcement from the Department for Education today. Ms Jones is […]