How FE Can Strengthen Employer Understanding of Apprenticeships

Employers understand the need for skills. They experience recruitment pressures, changing technology and gaps in workforce capability directly. What many understand less clearly, is how apprenticeships can help them address those challenges.

The apprenticeship landscape has changed significantly, and employer engagement must evolve with it. Recent reforms have shifted the model away from one that catered for all ages and all levels, with a number of programmes and incentives including the Breaking Barriers to Youth Employment announced last week.

At the same time, there is a greater emphasis on encouraging younger people into apprenticeships, alongside the introduction of new opportunities such as the Level 4 AI apprenticeship, reflecting the changing skills needs of employers. These developments represent far more than policy changes; they require colleges to have different conversations with employers. Rather than relying on the same messages that have been used for years, providers need to explain what has changed, why it matters and how the evolving apprenticeship system can help businesses meet today’s workforce challenges.

Familiarity does not necessarily translate into confidence

This distinction really matters. Apprenticeships may be familiar as a concept, but familiarity does not necessarily translate into confidence. Employers can still be uncertain about the roles apprentices can fill, the commitment required, available funding and how training can be aligned with their operational priorities.

For further education providers, closing this understanding gap should be central to employer engagement. The opportunity is not simply to provide more information, but to make apprenticeships relevant to the individual business.

The latest Department for Education, Employer Skills Survey 2024 shows why this is necessary. Around 19% of employers offered apprenticeships at the time of the survey, but participation varied considerably by size. While 66% of employers with at least 100 employees offered apprenticeships, the figure fell to just 9% among businesses employing between two and four people.

This does not mean smaller employers have no need for apprentices. Instead, this indicates that the path from recognising a skills requirement to participating in an apprenticeship programme – remains far harder for them to navigate.

The introduction of higher employer incentives

The welcomed new package announced by the government aims to provide better access to technical education, training, and apprenticeships, as part of the Prime Minister’s wider mission to strengthen links between education and work.   

It includes a new bursary for households, free apprenticeship training for eligible under-25s and up to £8,000 in support for SMEs hiring young apprentices, helping to deliver 50,000 new youth apprenticeships. 

This represents an extremely important shift in emphasis, from asking employers to participate – to demonstrating the clear additional benefits to the business of doing so.

Begin with the employer’s problem

Apprenticeships are too often introduced through the language of education administration, i.e. standards, funding bands, eligibility, assessment and off-the-job training.

Whilst these have to be explained, they shouldn’t lead the conversation.

An employer is more likely to engage when the discussion begins with a recognisable business problem. That might be difficulty recruiting technicians, an ageing workforce, weak succession planning, management capability or the need to develop skills around new systems and technologies.

The DofE Employer Skills Survey 2024 found that 59% of employers expected to need to upskill their workforce during the following 12 months. The introduction of new technologies and changing legislative or regulatory requirements were the most commonly cited reasons, each identified by 37% of employers anticipating an upskilling need.

Colleges and ITPs should therefore present apprenticeships as one answer to a known workforce challenge, rather than as a training product in search of an employer, which requires more preparation before contact is made.

For example, an organisation that is expanding, investing, recruiting heavily or entering a new market will have different priorities from one trying to retain experienced staff or replace people approaching retirement. The better the college understands that context, the more credible the conversation becomes.

Translate educational outcomes into business value

In my experience, Further Education naturally measures success through achievement, progression, quality and learner outcomes. Whereas employers are more likely to think in terms of productivity, retention, recruitment costs and operational capacity.

It’s the strong employer engagement that connects the two.

The Department for Education’s Apprenticeship Evaluation 2023: Employer Survey provides substantial evidence of the commercial value employers experience once they participate. Of the employers surveyed, 86% said apprenticeships had helped them develop skills relevant to their organisation, 77% reported improved productivity and 66% said apprentices had brought new ideas into the business. Among employers using apprenticeships for existing employees, 75% reported improved staff retention.

These findings should feature prominently in employer conversations because they address the questions businesses are most likely to ask.

The case for apprenticeships becomes considerably stronger when the college can explain how a programme may help build a particular capability, retain valued employees or create a more reliable recruitment pipeline.

This doesn’t require exaggerated promises. It requires evidence, commercial language and a clear connection between the apprenticeship and the employer’s objectives.

Use peer evidence to reduce uncertainty

Some employers remain concerned about administration, supervision requirements or the time needed to support an apprentice, which are important. A poorly planned apprenticeship can create pressure for both the business and the learner.

However, colleges and Independent Training Providers can reduce uncertainty by showing employers how similar organisations have made apprenticeships work.

The same Department for Education evaluation found that 83% of employers were satisfied with their main apprenticeship programme. It also found that 84% would recommend apprenticeships to another employer, although recommendation levels were lower among organisations with fewer than ten employees, which is another important distinction.

Smaller businesses often need more practical reassurance because they have fewer internal resources and less room to absorb mistakes.

Here, local employer case studies can be particularly influential. Rather than relying solely on national statistics, providers should demonstrate what participation involved, what support was available, what difficulties arose and what changed within the business as a result.

Make occupational competence visible

Employers need confidence that the programme will produce capabilities that are genuinely useful in the workplace.

Skills England’s Big Conversation stakeholder research found that occupational competence was highly important to employers. Respondents, particularly SMEs, wanted confidence that people completing technical qualifications possessed the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed by the business. The research also emphasised the need for apprenticeships and technical qualifications to remain aligned with employer requirements and industry standards.

Colleges can strengthen this confidence by explaining more clearly how the curriculum relates to the occupation, how employers can contribute to training and how competence will be assessed.

Employers don’t need every technical detail necessarily, but they do need to see a direct line between the programme and workplace performance.

Build relationships before vacancies emerge

Employer engagement is weaker when contact takes place only when a provider needs apprenticeship vacancies. Businesses rarely make workforce decisions according to the college recruitment calendar. Their needs emerge when contracts are won, employees leave, new technology is introduced or growth plans change.

Regular, relevant contact allows colleges and ITPs to recognise these moments earlier and to discuss apprenticeships as part of wider workforce planning.

This means moving away from generic, high-volume communications towards more selective engagement based on employer circumstances. A smaller number of informed conversations is likely to create more value than repeatedly distributing the same broad message to businesses with entirely different needs.

The employer understanding gap won’t be solved through another general explanation of how apprenticeships work. It will be narrowed when colleges show that they understand how individual businesses work and convey the validity and benefits of apprenticeships, including how they become a credible workforce solution.

By Adam Herbert, Chief Executive of Go Live Data