Last Friday’s apprenticeship levy announcements have already prompted a great deal of comment from AELP members and, to help formulate AELP’s response to the government, we are now asking you to submit your views to us within the tight deadline that the DfE has set (see notes and links to DfE consultation documents below).
The funding announcements contain a mix of proposed rates and incentives. Even taking into account the incentives, members are saying that in the case of many standards and frameworks, it will no longer be viable for providers to deliver apprenticeships.
The other major issue is the potential impact of proposals for the new Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers. With the bar set higher, we want to know what impact these might have on your sector in terms of providers likely to be turned down for approval. In a further attempt to reduce the overall level of subcontracting in FE and skills, the government is proposing that a lead provider must deliver at least 50% of each apprentice’s programme. While this might present a market opportunity for some providers, it could also be potentially disastrous for employers and learners already on programmes and so the transition would need to be very carefully managed.
However, the SFA stressed in yesterday’s AELP webinar that the government’s proposals are subject to genuine consultation although the clock is ticking on getting this right. The Agency wants to know your views, especially the impact on your employers and learners.
Other issues are being identified for discussion all the time as the details in Friday’s documents are absorbed but for the purpose of this approach, we are mainly asking for views on two big issues:
1. How will the new funding rates and incentives affect apprenticeship starts in your sector(s) for both 16-18 and 19+? It would especially helpful if you could show delivery costs against the proposed funding band.
2. How will the Register proposals impact on your organisation and the number of providers in your sector(s) and what impact will this have on employers and learners?
We would also welcome your views on the general funding guidance. It would be helpful if you could go through the government’s questions in the consultation documents and if you have views on any of them, let us have them using the documents’ paragraph numbers as references. These needn’t be specific to your sector(s).
Please send you responses by Friday 26 August to Mike Cox, AELP Operations Director, at:
mcox@aelp.org.uk.
Your contribution would be greatly appreciated.
Mark Dawe
AELP CEO
Notes and links to the DfE consultation documents
The new funding rates can be checked for standards and frameworks with the SFA’s calculator here:
Links to the new set of DfE proposals for Funding and the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers are here:
