Reputation of apprenticeships “on a knife edge” claims BESA

Jill Nicholls, director of competence and compliance at the BESA, has voiced the opinion that there was an “uncomfortable undertone” undermining the activities and celebrations around this year’s National Apprenticeship Week, which ran from 9-15 February.

“Judging by what we’ve seen from the Government so far,” observed Nicholls, “it looks like 2026 will be a year when the reputation of apprenticeships could go either way. It’s on a knife edge.”

Nicholls lamented that what’s usually a week to champion collaboration between employers, Government, training providers and assessment organisations had become an anxious debate about “streamlining” and “dumbing down” of quality.

“After years of building reputation, quality and take-up following the Richards Review, it’s frustrating to see this go into reverse, just when the construction and built environment sectors need quality and rigour more than ever,” explained Nicholls. “The need to ensure everyone working on buildings is professionally competent isn’t optional. It’s a necessity if we are going to prevent another Grenfell.”

Review of standards

The Government has announced a review of all 700 apprenticeship standards currently available with a view towards “streamlining” the system and removing those with low take-up even though many of those are in critical specialist technical professions.

Many employers fear that Government ministers intend to reduce choice by simply removing programmes that are not directly linked to the current Government’s priorities.

Others have suggested the exercise is aimed at freeing-up funding for new initiatives including foundation apprenticeships and short courses called ‘apprenticeship units’ through the reformed growth and skills levy which starts in April. This is intended to give employers more choice over how they spend their levy pots in line with a commitment made in the Labour Party’s General Election manifesto.

Not joined up

“The Government is not joined up on this issue,” suggested Nicholls, “with some departments arguing for streamlining to save money, while the Building Safety Regulator is calling for competence, compliance with the Building Safety Act and making sure routes to competence are clearly defined and mandated.”

According to Nicholls, using a ‘sampling system’ to speed up assessment of an apprentice’s skills, knowledge, experience and behaviour would not stand up to legal examination in court if an employer is challenged to prove their employee was fully competent.

A coalition of construction bodies (including BESA) recently launched a National Apprenticeship Week campaign (entitled #saveourapprenticeship) to persuade the Government to rethink its approach and is also working with the Skills England Construction Task Force to find practical solutions to the current stalemate. The campaign is headed by Helen Hewitt, CEO of the British Woodworking Federation, on behalf of all construction-related sectors.

“It’s counterintuitive for a Government that claims to be focused on improving professional standards across construction in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster to be compromising the quality of this crucial route to competence,” commented Nicholls. “Everyone in the competence supply chain from Skills England to training providers to employers has a role to play in ensuring the competence of workforces in line with clear and legal responsibilities enforceable under the Building Safety Act.”

Funding pledge

In last November’s Autumn Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged an additional £725 million to create 50,000 more apprenticeships during the course of this Parliament, but £140 million of that is being allocated to Mayors to help them connect NEETs (not in education, employment or training) to local employers as part of a wider review of educational priorities.

A statement from the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We are committed to creating an apprenticeship system that addresses the nation’s skills challenges head on and are simplifying it to give businesses the flexibility to develop the skills they need.”

The statement continued: “We have been working intensively with businesses on the next stages of reform and will consider their feedback before making any decisions about changes to funding apprenticeship standards.”