Are level 6 apprenticeships next?

Universities UK has estimated that restricting funding for level 7 apprenticeships to those aged 21 and below represents a more than £300m hit to the finances of universities in England this year and next. A recent Chartered Association of Business Schools member survey saw more than two-thirds of those business schools with level 7 provision planning to discontinue it.

And yet, there were a couple of events in September which indicated that more changes could be on the cards for higher-level apprenticeships.

First, apprenticeships policy moved into the Department for Work and Pensions – as I suggested at the time, this would inevitably seem to foretell an uncertain outlook for apprenticeships with longer duration and an emphasis on building professional experience and competencies, rather than supporting young people out of unemployment.

Then the Prime Minister used his conference speech to set out a target for increased apprenticeship study, specifically at age 25 and below. Given the stretched apprenticeship budget and the commitment to additional new provision – both foundation-level apprenticeships, from April, apprenticeship units – there are only really two straightforward ways to fund this growth: either fewer apprentices above the age cut-off, or a move from longer to shorter apprenticeships to give more volume for the same investment.

The tail-end of the apprenticeships regime under Robert Halfon was characterised by a renewed focus on achievement rates (an area where degree apprenticeships and universities do well), whereas Labour has been much more interested in apprenticeship starts, for a variety of reasons including their saliency as a stick to beat the last government with. At lower levels, changes to assessment are creating concerns about rigour among employers, as FE Week has been digging into recently.

So ever since the election there’s been a faint question mark hanging over the long-term future of higher-level, longer apprenticeships of all stripes, not just at level 7. But the two September policy changes and the ongoing questions over departmental budgets (which are not going to be conclusively cleared up any time soon) have raised things to the point where a substantial group of universities, employers and professional bodies have written to DWP and DfE ahead of the Budget to urge against any changes to level 6 apprenticeship rules.

The Chartered Management Institute-coordinated letter sets out opposition to “any possible defunding or restriction of Level 6 apprenticeships,” arguing that such a move would reduce opportunities for learners and limit employers’ ability to meet business and skills needs. What’s needed, the letter suggests, is a system that works for “all ages and all stages.”

If restrictions to level 6 apprenticeships do end up on the cards at some point in this Parliament, for the reasons above and the parallels with the level 7 defunding the likely mechanism would be a similar age restriction on use of funding. But there are other levers the government could pull, especially now that it has the list of Skills England priority subjects to lend an air of objectivity to the process of “picking winners” among the disciplines (though there are subjects including business and management that arguably should already be on that list, to the extent that we know how it was drawn up).

The other question about any further policy change is whether the government will properly consult and/or conduct an impact assessment, which it neglected to do for the earlier change. In Parliament today, DWP minister Andrew Western was pressed for an explanation about the defunding of level 7, and he largely gave a verbatim reprise of Bridget Phillipson’s written statement in June. This statement described Skills England engagement with stakeholders in passing terms, but did nothing to dispel the sense that the government is taking decisions about apprenticeship policy for political, rather than educational or economic, reasons.

(To get an approximate overview of the current landscape of provision at level 6, head to this article and use the toggle in the final chart – as, depressingly, I suggested might be necessary at the time – to filter by level and age. New apprenticeship data for the full year 2024–25 is out on Thursday)