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It has been revealed that proposed funding for 16-18 year-old apprentices will mean current rates to colleges and training providers being cut by around 30%, and providers in deprived areas of London will find that their funding rates may have been cut by over half in some cases. In my opinion, this is likely to cause further damage to the apprenticeship brand in London, which we know is a problem. Our recent research with Reed in Partnership found that people in the capital are 40% less likely than the English average to want their children to pursue an apprenticeship.

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Today, the nervous wait is over for those collecting their GCSE results. This year, GCSE results have fallen across the board. The proportion of learners gaining a C or above dropped by an unprecedented 2.1 percentage points (down to 66.9% for A*-C grades), including a sharp decline in those gaining a C or above in English.

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Despite appeals from employer groups such as the Confederation of British Industry, the levy is still on course to start being collected in April 2017, with the introduction of the new provider funding system beginning a month after. This is so that ‘levy paying employers can use funds in their digital account to pay for training from the first month they declare levy payable through the PAYE system’. The biggest news – and of some relief to the approximately 98% of employers in the UK who will be non-levy payers under the new regime – is that these employers will pay 10% of the apprenticeship cost, with the government paying the remaining 90%.

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It’s been a summer of huge change. The EU referendum result in June was the catalyst, resulting in a new Prime Minister, a major cabinet reshuffle and significant changes to government structure. Here’s a round-up of who’s who in the new cabinet. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is no more, and has been replaced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This means that responsibilities for skills and higher education now fall under the remit of the Department for Education, and we have come full circle, as many veterans of the sector will recognise.

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New research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) suggests that, with increased government support, small businesses could deliver an extra one million apprenticeships. Published just before the release of the Apprenticeship Levy update, the FSB’s survey concluded that ‘the small business sector is crucial to the government achieving its target of 3 million apprenticeships by 2020’. Only 24% of FSB members currently employ an apprentice, but a further 24% would consider doing so if they’re given more support from the government.

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It’s A-level results day and as we speak, thousands of young people around the UK are either celebrating their success or commiserating over unexpected or disappointing results. This year, record numbers of university places have been offered, and there’s been a marginal fall in top grades for the fifth year in a row.

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The apprenticeship reforms go live next April but are arguably already more than four years old. Doug Richard was commissioned by the Skills Minister John Hayes to come up with recommendations back in June 2012. Since then Hayes became Hancock who became Boles and the ministerial baton was last month handed to Halfon.

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Colleges

Training Providers

Employers

Learners

NCFE is a national Awarding Organisation

Blog Archives: August 2016

Cuts to apprenticeship funding rates of up to 50% proposed

GCSE results day 2016

Apprenticeship Levy: an update

The ministerial merry-go-round

Apprenticeships: opportunities and challenges for small businesses

A-level results day – what’s next?

Halfon should take a step back from the brink and negotiate a proper pilot

Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive

Blog Archives: August 2016

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Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive