Apprenticeship and levy statistics: December 2018

Statistics covering apprenticeship starts, apprenticeship service registrations and commitments.

There were 375,800 apprenticeship starts reported for the 2017/18 academic year, compared with 494,900 in 2016/17 and 509,400 in 2015/16, a decrease of 24.1 and 26.2 per cent respectively.

Of these 375,800 apprenticeship starts reported in 2017/18, 43.6 per cent (163,700) were on apprenticeship standards.

As of May 2017 there were significant structural changes to the apprenticeship funding system including the introduction of the apprenticeship levy and Apprenticeship Service.

As shown in the January 2018 release of this publication, 91.7 percent of those who had PAYE schemes with apprenticeship levy declarations in England of over £150,000 had registered on the Apprenticeship Service.

These firms have two years to spend their funds and as the new system becomes more established, such changes are likely to significantly impact on apprenticeship starts being reported.

Quarterly apprenticeship starts data provide a more robust basis than monthly starts for interpreting how figures related to historical trends.

Quarterly apprenticeship starts from the fourth quarter of the 2014/15 academic year onwards, along with the finalised quarterly starts figures for the current academic year and cumulative starts, as published in the Further education and skills: November 2018 statistics publication.

The next update to these quarterly statistics will be the 2018/19 provisional quarter one figures published in January 2019.

This publication provides headline statistics on the use of the apprenticeship service.

The updated statistics in this publication are:

• apprenticeship service account registrations (ASAs) to November 2018
• number of commitments, where an apprentice who is expected to start an apprenticeship is recorded on the apprenticeship service (to November 2018)
• the number of apprenticeship service commitments arising through a transfer (to November 2018)

Additionally, this release contains the following statistics that were first published last month in the Apprenticeship and levy statistics: November 2018 statistics publication.

• finalised monthly apprenticeship starts for the full academic year 2017 to 2018 along with further breakdowns
• an estimate of expected off-the-job training hours
• public sector apprenticeship ‘indicative ratios’ held on the Individualised Learner Record
• tables and measures providing insight of the impact of apprenticeship reforms

For more further education (FE) statistics, please refer to the FE and skills statistics publication, and the FE data library.

We may adjust the content and timing of these statistics, depending on user feedback and data reporting.

Documents

Apprenticeship and levy statistics: December 2018 – main text

PDF, 900KB, 22 pages

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Further education statistical dissemination team

Matthew Rolfe
Department for Education
2 St Paul’s Place
125 Norfolk Street
Sheffield
S1 2FJ

EmailFE[email protected]