Gold Standard Apprenticeships: Where’s The Funding To Deliver Them? FE Soundbite 817
Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 817: 4th October 2025. Gold Standard Apprenticeships: Where’s The Funding To Deliver Them? FE Soundbite 817
This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here’s a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
It feels like every week I write Soundbite, I say… another busy week of big announcements… but this week was sure a busy one for massive changes to the Further Education, Skills and Employability system!
New Youth Guarantee to Provide NEETs With Paid Work Experience If They’ve Been On Universal Credit For 18 Months
So the positives and cool new stuff: The Chancellor’s New Youth Guarantee to Give Paid Work and Skills for NEETs. Every eligible young person who has been on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning will be offered guaranteed paid work through a new Youth Guarantee. This new initiative will build upon existing employment support and sector-based work academies currently being delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Great.. But Half Of All NEETs Are Not Claiming Benefit
Stephen Evans from Learning and Work made a really interesting comment and point on this announcement. Stephen said: “But we need more details on the length and type of placements. And with only one in four Neets on benefits and required to search for work, it’s important this offer is open to all young people who need it, regardless of their benefit status”.
Stephen Evans is basically referencing a very fresh report from Learning and Work on NEETs from about 3 weeks ago called ‘Off the Grid’ which found that just 1:4 NEETs get help from the employment support system and 1 in 2 young people who are NEET are not claiming benefits at all! So all good to give work experience, but we need to develop a system where NEETs don’t fall through the cracks and actually have access to the support they deserve and need!
The KickStart Generation?
Also… the Chancellor announced this scheme… whilst also looking back at Covid and Bounce back Loans. Now, in Covid, the then Chancellor launched a very similar scheme, called ‘KickStart‘, but as REC remembers, it was absolutely blighted by bureaucracy. Rishi Sunak wrote an exclusive for us on the ‘KickStart Generation’ back in day (Rishi was even rocking one of those cool KickStart hoodies). Hopefully, the new Chancellor’s Youth Employability support scheme can learn from the lessons learnt from KickStart! … will we also have Youth Guarantee Hoodies?
Maintenance Grants Are Back, But…
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson pledged to introduce new targeted means-tested maintenance grants by the end of this Parliament, supporting students from the lowest-income households. Depends how long you have been on the FE and Skills block for.. but Maintenance grants which were abolished in 2016, are now being reintroduced in a targeted, means-tested format.
The maintenance grants will support students from low-income households studying on priority courses at Levels 4 to 6 under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement. This includes Certificates of Higher Education (CertHEs), Diplomas of Higher Education (DipHEs), technical qualifications, and degrees. Cool. Let’s remove those barriers for people… and Keir Starmer a day later makes a big announcement on Higher Level Qualifications, so this all makes sense (more on this in a bit).
But.. The new maintenance grants will be fully funded by a new International Student Levy, ensuring that revenue from international students is used to benefit working-class domestic students. The International Student Levy will apply to England only, with the DfE line of “maintaining a competitive offer for international students while ensuring the benefits are shared more visibly at home”.
International Student Levy: What’s The Impact On Student Numbers And University Places?
Just three weeks ago, the OECD released their Education At A Glance 2025 Report. Which found, despite our Government’s best efforts.. The UK is world’s second largest destination for international students! So, this is again another layer to put a barrier in place for international students.
UCU’s Jo Grady said: “Treating international students as cash cows to fund maintenance grants amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul”. .. and Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK said: “A levy on international students will not help disadvantaged students, it will hinder them. As emerging evidence already shows, it would reduce the number of places available for domestic students and mean universities have even less of their scant resource to invest into expanding access and supporting students. In the UK, less public money goes into higher education than in any other developed nation, with domestic and international students paying a higher share”.
UUK Think This Policy Will Actually Reduce The Number Of HE Places Available
So, on the surface, yeah, it’s cool stuff about the Maintenance Grants… helping people to progress and providing actual cash money to overcome barriers… but scratch it a bit, and it’s… UUK thinks this policy will actually reduce the number of HE places available in full stop… and there was a constant narrative with each of these announcements… more details to follow in the Post-16 White Paper.
Two Thirds Of Young People To Get Higher-Level Skills Target
Then the Big One: the PM Announces two thirds of young people to get higher-level skills, either through University, Further Education, or ‘gold standard’ Apprenticeships by age 25. Fantastic, now the maintenance grants, the work experience, all makes sense.
All routes to higher level skills (but let’s not forget… erm Level 7 is no longer going to be Levy Funded), there will still be the 5% Employer Contribution route, which could be like £750 for a £15,000 Master’s level Apprenticeship. Still, it isn’t the ‘ladder of opportunity’, for me personally, an ‘all age all levels’ Apprenticeship system that we are just about to lose, is what I’d call a real ‘Gold Standard’ Apprenticeship route.
£800M More Funding For 16-19 Year Olds and 10 New Technical Excellence Colleges
The PM also announced an additional £800m in funding for 16–19-year-olds next year, supporting an extra 20,000 students… AND 14 new Technical Excellence Colleges in Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy and Digital. This is on top of the 10 Technical Excellence Colleges already announced for construction (CTECs) and five for defence (DTECs).
New Technical Excellence Colleges in Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy and Digital
So, we are going to have 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges in Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy and Digital. So this will be 24 Technical Excellence Colleges. That is a lot of Technical Excellence Colleges! We also have DTECs… so for Digital.. will it be DigiTEC and for Clean Energy… CENTEC or GreenTEC… they need to think hard about the branding of these!
But… Fantastic stuff… and guess what, further detail will be set out in the upcoming Post-16 Skills White Paper.
Gold Standard Apprenticeships
Again, if you have been around the FE and Skills block for a while… you might have heard of ‘Gold Standard Apprenticeships’ before. I certainly have. Gareth John wrote a cool article in response to the PM’s announcement and asked what “gold standard” means? Particularly with the removal of Level 7 funding.
Back in May 2025 (which seems like an age ago)… back when Apprenticeships were still under DfE … when announcing the Level 7 changes on funding and focus on Apprenticeships for the Under 22’s, the DfE release said and I quote: “Starting January 2026, funding will be redirected from Level 7 (masters-level) Apprenticeships, with continued support reserved for Apprentices aged 16-21 and those already enrolled on Apprenticeship programmes”.
The Growth and Skills Levy is also going to focus on Apprenticeship funding for Under 22. So, I am not sure what is going to happen or what is going to be the ‘mechanism’ for funding the Higher Level Quals target between 22 and 25 years old, particularly via the Gold Standard Apprenticeships? … Maybe we will hear more in the guess what.. the Post 16 Skills White Paper. Can’t wait to see it can you?!
So all Eyes on the Post 16 Skills White Paper!
So we had one constant, from the PM, the Chancellor, Education Secretary… more clarification coming on the mechanics of all of this… in the Post 16 Skills White Paper.
I hope at last we will have clarification on the Growth and Skills Levy… the Apprenticeship Assessment reforms… and hopefully more on support for NEETs… particularly as half of all NEETs are 22-24… and their what I am calling ‘top cover’ caps off at 21.. eg Youth Guarantee is up to 21 years old, Apprenticeship funding is prioritising Under 22. If Apprenticeships via the Levy (the Growth and Skills Levy, not the other one)… are going to prioritise funding for under 22, is there going to be more funding for Gold Standard Apprenticeships from 22 – 25 and to what level? See what I mean… a lot of questions and clarification is still needed!
So, all answers will be given in the Post 16 Skills White Paper, as I don’t know about you. Each time we have another big announcement, there are about 5-6 questions raised for every answer! … but… really great stuff that there is more investment in FE and Skills. The power of Apprenticeships is recognised by the Prime Minister (this vibe was only previously there with Rishi Sunak in a Prime Minister who regularly talked about Skills and Apprenticeships). So this is fantastic.
However, all of the funding pots mentioned and mechanisms all announced… are not for Apprenticeships, or powering Gold Standard Apprenticeships. Now the Technical Excellence Colleges work on a ‘hub and spoke’ model, which are supposed to support other colleges and Training Providers. Now Ben Rowland from AELP made a really good point on the PM’s announcement, particularly on TECs: “It also means making sure that investment in Technical Excellence Colleges is designed so that the whole sector can contribute including ITPs who are the engine of employer and learner engagement currently delivering 2/3rds of apprenticeships.”
Where Is The Investment and Fuel To Power Gold Standard Apprenticeships?
So where is the investment and fuel to Power The Gold Standard Apprenticeships?.. must be in the … you guessed it… the Post 16 Skills White Paper!
The Missing Piece – Careers Advice and Guidance
For me… the brilliant Deirdre Hughes’ article is excellent. It cuts straight to it… are creating more opportunities, routes, aspirations… but where are the trained Careers Advice and Guidance to sign post and help people understand the routes, options and to help fill these sparkly new Technical Excellence Colleges and Higher Level routes? 1000 additional Careers Advisors were promised, but where are they? … and where is the investment to signpost to all of these cool new services?
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Pat McFadden and Jacqui Smith: The Skills Policy Juggling Act By Andy Forbes, Executive Director, Lifelong Education Institute
Hints and Tips on Preparing for the new Approach to Apprenticeship Assessment By Jacqui Molkenthin from JEML Consulting
Skills Revolution Demands Investment in Careers Guidance Infrastructure By Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE, CDI Legacy Fellow & A Vice-President of the International Association of Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG)
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
Why Data is Closing the Gap in the Latest Government Skills Agenda By Adam Herbert, CEO & Co-Founder, Go Live Data
The Case for Women’s Employment Support By Elizabeth Taylor, ERSA CEO
Coaching or Compromise? Why Cutting Corners on ADHD Support Risks More Than Just Performance By Nathan Whitbread, The Neurodivergent Coach
Further Education at the Frontline of National Resilience By Gary F. Fisher, Academic Developer in Online Education at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Invisible Learners: The Challenge of Undiagnosed Neurodiversity in FE and HE By Imran Mir SFHEA, FSET, CMgr MCMI, FRSA
What’s New in the World of FE?
Announcements
Chancellor’s New Youth Guarantee to Give Paid Work and Skills for NEETs By HM Treasury
Education Secretary Announces Return of Maintenance Grants for Students from Low-Income Households By the Department for Education (DfE)
£2.5m Investment to Train Defence Welders at The Welding Skills Centre in Glasgow By the Ministry of Defence
Reports
Delivering A More Inclusive Welsh Labour Market By the Learning and Work Institute
Audit Scotland Report Highlights 20% Cut to Colleges Funding By Colleges Scotland
Responses to the Government
Further Education (FE) and Skills Was Centre Stage At The Labour Party Conference, Now Action Must Follow By Dr Katerina Kolyva, CEO of the Education and Training Foundation (ETF)
IFS’s response to government announcement of work placements for young people on long-term benefits By the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
Inspire Education Group CEO welcomes Prime Minister’s Skills Mission and Calls for Continued Investment in Colleges By Rachel Nicholls, CEO of Inspire Education Group (IEG)
The PM’s New Target: The Pursuit of Parity By Gareth John, Director at accountancy training provider First Intuition
Voices
Employers Should be at the Heart of DWP’s Approach to Skills By Jamie Cater, Make UK Senior Policy Manager – Skills
Inspiring the Next Generation of Problem-Solvers By Dr Colette Fletcher, Executive Director at the OR Society
Diversifying Learning Pathways: The Key for Further Education to Thrive By Matthew McShane, Further Education Specialist at Instructure
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We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let’s shake up the world of FE together, and catch you next week!
By Danny O’Meara, Digital Project Manager, FE News