In February, the Department for Education announced changes to Functional Skills requirements for apprentices aged 19 or over.
From 11th February 2025 onwards the changes to Functional Skills requirements in apprenticeships are as follows:
- Apprentices 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.
You can access further details of these changes in the Apprenticeship Funding Rules.
All employers and education providers should still aspire to provide access to high quality English and maths training. This is so that the literacy and numeracy skills for each post are achieved and for the purposes of the apprentice’s future development.
To help show how others are doing it, today we are sharing the Mid and South Essex Apprenticeship Policy. This policy shows requirements for apprenticeship standards from Level 2 – Level 7.
You can access this policy here.