The government must urgently provide additional “catch-up funding” to support the apprentices whose training was disrupted by lockdown, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has said. 

The AELP warned that due to Covid-19 and the disruption to training and assessments, many apprentices’ programmes have gone or will go beyond their planned end-dates. 

To ensure that these apprentices still get the training and extra support they need to qualify, the AELP is asking for an extension of an affected apprentice’s programme by up to three months. 

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AELP managing director Jane Hickie said: “We hear stories of training providers doing everything they can to support apprentices even when the government funding has been switched off, but the government must step in now with more support to ensure no apprentice is unfairly disadvantaged.

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“The end of the furlough scheme and the likely impact on young apprentices losing their jobs are very worrying. So why not use the example of Kickstart and start subsidising the wages of those affected?”

The AELP is also asking for protection for “at-risk” apprentices with a targeted wage subsidy or an extension to the job retention scheme, and an extension to the Education and Skills Funding Agency funding rules to support displaced apprentices undertaking longer duration apprenticeship programmes.

The AELP’s recommendations in full

• Provide additional support for apprentices disrupted by Covid-19 by extending funded training by three months to support a catch-up period.
• Protection for at-risk young apprentices who have been previously furloughed through the introduction of a new targeted wage subsidy and/or an extension to the job retention scheme.
• Extend the current ESFA funding rules to appropriately support and safeguard displaced apprentices undertaking longer-duration apprenticeship programmes.
• Support more apprentices to complete their apprenticeship on time, allowing them to progress through extending the end-point assessment (EPA) and functional skills qualifications (FSQ) flexibilities and/or discretions until July 2021, including flexing the sequencing of on-programme qualifications to allow apprentices to avoid unnecessary stop-go gaps in their programme of learning.
• Allow training providers flexibility to support employed at-risk learners on Adult Education Budget (AEB) programmes, enabling them to continue their training, and supporting them as part of their transition to secure alternative employment.
• Recognising the efforts of all providers that over-delivered on their AEB contract in the fiscal year 2019-20 to provide continuity of service, including supporting key workers during the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Ensuring the appropriate recognition by the ESFA of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on providers and pragmatic accounting/auditing for this in measuring a provider’s performance.

Gillian Keegan, minister for apprenticeships and skills said: “I recognise Covid-19 has had a significant impact on apprentices, employers, training providers, and assessment organisations, which is why we introduced a range of flexibilities to ensure that apprenticeships could continue where possible.

“This included encouraging training providers to shift their training offer online so their students can continue their studies and so that providers are paid as normal, as well as making changes to end point assessments. We have also offered additional financial support to providers through our Provider Relief Schemes so they can continue to deliver high-quality training.

“Our Redundancy Support Service for Apprentices is helping to make sure apprentices who have lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19 get the support they need to find a new opportunity and get on the path to a new career. We’re also considering how we can go further still to support redundant apprentices to complete their training, and will announce further detail in the coming days.”