In the run up to last week’s autumn statement, there was a great deal of discussion about the future of degree apprenticeships.
Colleagues were concerned that the Chancellor was about to restrict the use of levy funding for the senior leader apprenticeship – a standard which supported 4,880 of 106,360 higher apprenticeship starts in 2021-22. In the end, it didn’t happen. But the question hangs: what’s next for degree apprenticeships?
We should start by reflecting on why government might even consider restricting the flow of funding to some degree apprenticeships. Particularly since the introduction of the levy in 2017, higher and degree apprenticeship starts have grown consistently – from c48,000 in 2017-18 to c82,500 in 2019-20 and c106,500 in 2021-22. Over the same period, overall apprenticeship starts have bounced around a little – from c376,000 in 2017-18 to c322,500 in 2019-20 and c349,000 in 2021-22, well below their 2015-16 peak of more than 500,000.
Put simply, government has a “be careful what you wish for” problem. The (only) common thread of skills policy over the last twenty years has been focus on employer responsiveness – which over time came to be branded employer “leadership” and then “ownership” of the skills system. The levy was the pinnacle of the policy – giving employers the ability to spend “their” levy however they wanted – within the many and complex rules of the system, but still…. Government just wanted employers to want something slightly different when given the freedom to choose.
