During National Apprenticeship Week the Department for Education announced changes to the Functional Skills requirements in apprenticeships.
They announced that employers will now be able to decide whether adult learners over the age of 19 will need to complete a level 2 English and maths qualification (equivalent to GCSE) in order to pass their apprenticeship.
The 2024 – 2025 Apprenticeship Funding rules have now been updated, and version 2 is now available which includes these changes to functional skills.
Some of the changes include:
- For English and maths, where an apprentice restarts, the age an apprentice originally started their apprenticeship training will be used to determine whether it is a mandatory requirement of the programme.
- Only apprentices who began their apprenticeship training when aged 16-18 will continue to be subject to the mandatory requirement to study towards and achieve English and maths. Apprentices who began their apprenticeship training when aged 19+ will no longer be subject to the mandatory requirement to study towards and achieve English and maths. However, for apprentices aged 19+, the apprentice or their employer can still choose for the apprentice to study towards an English and maths qualification. Funding will continue to be available for those apprentices that wish to study towards an English and maths qualification. This policy change will be effective from 11 February 2025 and will apply to new starts and existing learners on programme.
You can access the Apprenticeship Funding rules and Summary of Changes document here.