Providers of apprenticeships for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have received funding allocations “typically 50 to 80 per cent lower”, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has warned.
In October, the the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) launched a £440 million procurement exercise for providers to bid for apprenticeship funding allocations to support non-levy-paying employers. But earlier this month the process of approving providers hoping to deliver apprenticeships for non-levy paying employers was “paused”, with existing contracts extended until the end of the year to “maintain stability in the system”.
Funding allocations for colleges and providers were revealed this week by the ESFA. According to AELP, the allocations for individual providers are down by as much as 89 per cent compared with the same period last year, with many quality and specialist training providers and subcontractors “now fearing that they will go out of business”.
AELP chief executive Mark Dawe said parts of the country face being transformed into “apprenticeship deserts” as a result of the allocations. In a letter sent to education secretary Justine Greening today, Mr Dawe writes that he is “frankly baffled” by the ESFA’s allocation decisions, and that many AELP members were reporting that their new allocations “typically 50 to 80 per cent lower” than their contracts were for a similar period last year. He adds that training providers starting apprentices for non-levy payers comprised 98 per cent of the employer market, and that “a great majority of England’s 900,000 apprentices are employed by SMEs”.
“Make no mistake,” Mr Dawe writes, “if there are casualties among the providers as a consequence of the non-levy allocations, this will have a serious and direct impact on provision for levy-paying employers, the 3 million starts target and most importantly the social mobility agenda as young apprentices are left stranded without training provision.”
‘A horror show’
In a statement, Mr Dawe said: “The AELP wants the levy to be kept. Furthermore we believe that 4 million quality apprenticeship starts could be achieved in the next Parliament if approached in the right way. But the government’s reforms for the apprenticeship programme risk turning into a horror show unless ministers and officials get a proper grip on the process.
“Officials must be much more willing to share in private their thinking and methodologies with the principal stakeholders so that we can point out possible mistakes before they are made. We recognise that the election purdah places a real challenge in sorting matters out but the ESFA needs to go back to the drawing board immediately on the non-levy allocations in order to avert the type of catastrophe that will really damage the image of apprenticeships in the eyes of employers, parents and young people.”
A statement published by the Department for Education last month said: “In order to maintain stability in the system through the start of the next academic year, in the interim period we will extend existing contracts held by all current providers until the end of December 2017. To maintain our quality standards, current providers with extended contracts will be able to undertake new starts on those contracts provided they are on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers. The ESFA will notify providers of specific arrangements shortly so that amended contracts are in place ahead of 1 May.
“This will not affect training provision for existing learners. Extending existing providers contracts means employers can be confident in taking on new apprentices without disruption over the months ahead.”
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