This NFER analysis shows the impact of policy reforms and the pandemic on apprenticeship starts. It concludes that the apprenticeship system in England requires urgent action to ensure disadvantaged young people interested in apprenticeships - and whose prospects have already been impacted by Covid - do not suffer a second educational blow.
The study examines the impact of recent reforms on apprenticeship starts, both before and during the pandemic. It highlights how apprenticeship opportunities for young people from deprived backgrounds have been disproportionately impacted by recent reforms to the apprenticeship system – even before the pandemic.
Covid-19 has only exacerbated existing trends, as apprenticeship starts among deprived and younger learners have continued to decline disproportionately - in line with young people more generally bearing the brunt of unemployment resulting from the pandemic.
According to the report, the introduction of the apprenticeship levy and apprenticeship standards contributed to this decline. In particular, the impact of the phasing out of apprenticeship frameworks on apprenticeship starts – some of which were considered to be poor quality – is reflected in the rapid decline in starts in subjects (such as ‘Business Management’, ‘Manufacturing Technologies’ and ‘Administration’) where popular frameworks were withdrawn without a new standard to replace them.
The supply offunding for apprenticeships in SMEs is likely to be an ongoing barrier. This is because there is a fixed budget for the apprenticeship programme and, due to the current design of the funding system, the main mechanism for the Government to ensure that the apprenticeship budget is not overspent is by capping the number of apprenticeship starts in SMEs.