In Gordon Brown’s 2004 statement on Apprenticeships he announced that development work would commence on a new Adult Apprenticeship, for those aged over 25.
An initial £1 million of funding allowed 7 regions to participate in pilot programmes, which commenced in January 2005 working with three Sector Skills Councils - SEMTA, CITB-Construction Skills and Skills for Health.
The initial cohorts amounted to 450 learners.
Funding was due to end in 2006 although many of the first cohort were not expected to complete their frameworks until 2007. However, because of the success of the programme, a further £16.7 million was allocated for 2006/07.
The LSC prioritised four groups of learners:
A further eligible group were to be those who have completed an NVQ2 or NVQ3 under the Train to Gain initiative and expressed an interest in gaining an Apprenticeship. Stephen Gardner, Director of Apprenticeships at the LSC said recently:
“The trials have shown that adults can complete all the required elements of the Apprenticeship programme - often in a shorter time than young people if they are given the correct level of support that recognises their existing skills.”
In the LSC’s November 2007 Statement of Priorities it confirmed that there would be a budget of £25 million for Apprenticeships for those aged 25 or over in 2007/08, rising to £30 million from 2008/09. This funding will be prioritised to local and regional skills shortage areas, helping learners from under-represented groups to access Apprenticeships. In addition, employees who have successfully completed an NVQ through Train to Gain will be funded to go on to achieve a full Apprenticeship.
During 2009, funding for adult apprenticeships was scaled back following pressure on government resources, in a report in Personnel Today on 7 August 2009, Kat Baker reported that:
The head of HR at a hospitality company who approached the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) about funding for an apprenticeship scheme has been told employers can no longer get funding for apprentices aged over 25, unless the apprentices are part of a small 'priority group' which includes women returners, the disabled, and those with no other level 2 qualification.
The source told Personnel Today: "The reason we were given was it’s a matter of policy at the LSC. They said it's been capped because it’s oversubscribed, and this is the policy for the current funding year [starting in August].”
The report went on to say that a spokeswoman from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said some funding was still available for adult apprenticeships but this would only be given once apprentices in the priority group had received funding. She could not state how much funding would be made available as this depended on the level of demand from the priority group.
The spokeswoman said: "Apprenticeships for the over-25s will still be available, but demand as a whole will be managed to ensure targets set by the government are met. One way in which the National Apprenticeship Service will achieve this will be by asking training providers to focus adult apprenticeship funding on those that need it most."
It seemed that Adult Apprenticeships had become too popular. In the 2006/07 academic year, a total of 100 over-25s started Apprenticeships. In 2007/08, the number was 14,600. In 2008/09, the LSC’s projected total for new Apprenticeships was passed after less than six months!
Funding for Adult Apprenticeships is provided from within the Train to Gain initiative. In June 2009, the last Government announced that the overall the budget for Train to Gain would increase from £797 million to over £1 billion in 2010-11.
In June 2010 the new Government showed its commitment to Apprenticeship training with Vince Cable announcing that funding would be provided for an additional 50,000 apprentice places. The Government also announced an additional £150 million of funding for Adult Apprenticeships, which would be made available to small and medium-sized enterprises. This money was being transferred from the Train to Gain budget.
