For our early afternoon session at The Manor, we got together a panel of experts to discuss apprenticeships, the value and benefits of them, and answer the audience’s questions around funding and eligibility.
Below are some of the key questions and topics from the session:
Host:
Jon Kemp - Head of Accountancy Programmes at Reed Business School
Panel:
Sophie Lee - Policy & Regulations Manager at ICAEW
Emma Taylor - Apprenticeship Manager at Reed Learning
Jack Armstrong - Client Director at Richardsons Group
Key takeaways:
Apprenticeships are a cost-effective training method for both apprentices and businesses.
Apprenticeship providers, like Reed Business School, will provide support to help reduce the challenges of apprenticeships, like apprentices who struggle with a return to learning or employers who struggle with the regulations involved.
Apprenticeships help develop much needed soft skills which can't be taught in a classroom or university setting.
Apprenticeship design and delivery can be flexibly tailored to fit the employer's needs and the industry demands.
There are alternative funding options for apprenticeships, such as levy transfer for non-levy paying employers.
Apprenticeship providers are regulated by Ofsted to maintain high standards of learning.
Jon: What motivated you to take on apprentices in your organisation?
Jack: “The cost of university is so unaffordable at the moment, I'm lucky enough/old enough to have been at university when tuition fees where £3000 a year, now they are more like £9,000 a year, so university is unaffordable for a lot of individuals now, unless you're extremely lucky. As a result, we identified we were getting a fewer number of graduates applying for our job roles and we knew that apprenticeships were growing in popularity.”
Jack identified another important factor as the cost. He explained that they benefit from government funding and how apprenticeships have helped them grow the organisation:
“We were a smallish firm. We're about 50 of us and we've got just shy of 20 apprentices with us at the moment, so it’s been hugely beneficial.”
Jon: What challenges do apprentices face and how do you help support them?
Jack: “Initially it was a bit of a learning curve for us to make sure we were complying with all the regulation around, but we were lucky enough to have Reed supporting us as much as possible in terms of set up and those annoying ad hoc questions we had.”
“The students are briefed early on as well. So they've got an expectation and they know that we get in trouble as an employer if we're not being compliant, if they're not doing something they are meant to, particularly in relation to timesheets, for example.”
Emma: “I think particularly from people who are upskilling, who have been out of education for some time, there's a nervousness around returning to education, and getting back into writing assessments and attending webinars etc. So from the beginning of the program, we find that there's a challenge, not so much for, I guess, the kind of the younger people going into apprenticeships, because they may have just finished their A Levels or a degree, but certainly those who are upskilling.”
“Also we find challenges probably from the line manager's perspective, and understanding their role within the apprenticeships, having the opportunity to offer that wider learning and off the job training, and how they can support their apprentices. But we support wherever we can and help them get through any teething problems.”
Jon: What impact have apprenticeships had on your business?
Jack: “It's been really great, not just from a profit point of view, but from their own development. We found with the extra sessions in relation to the apprenticeship scheme, it’s not just the ICAEW exams or AAT exams involved, they're developing their soft skills as accountants too.”
“It would be surprising to maybe the non-accountants in the room, it's a people-person job. You've got your staff on one side and clients on the other, you've got to be able to communicate clearly. The apprenticeship schemes and some of the modules involved do help develop our individuals, and it does help that they get that exposure to dealing with clients early on as well.”
Sophie: “We always say that the exams are just that litmus test to check that you are competent, but actually you get some of those things you can't teach in a classroom or through an exam. It really needs to be those real-life exposure kind of pieces that that we see people getting to grips with.”
Jon: How would you tailor the program to suit individual industries or business requirements so that that can be from any point of view you wish?
Sophie: “So, I sit on the different Trailblazer groups and we design the initial stance of the qualification and what that looks like and there’s employer voices from the start. I think that then means that when the apprenticeship is designed, it's intended to be designed for that apprentice, and with the employer at the forefront, and although they are rigid assessments, there's always a lot of flexibility, especially around the kind of the knowledge and skills learned, what that looks like.”
Emma: “I think on the delivery as well, there can be some flexibility. For example, on the HR side, we work with some large retailers and we know when we're designing the delivery plan, to not really deliver anything around December time because a lot of the HR team are actually going into stores at this time, so the on the job training can be a little bit fluid around that time.”
Jon: This is question to Emma from an employer; can you help with apprenticeship funding levy management, or obtaining levy funds by gifting from other organisations?
Emma: “Generally we work with the employers from the start and queries come up, we can sign post particularly around the gifting of the apprenticeship levy and how that works. It can be hugely impactful. Again, going back to the retail organisations that we worked with, they gifted some of their levy to logistic training because there was a national skill gap there that needed to be filled.”
“It benefited obviously the country, it benefited them as an organization as well. So yes, we give advice all the time on the practical side of how does this apprenticeship service platform work and also around funding, as well as flexibility.”
“Generally employers fall into two categories. They're either levy paying, which means they have an annual payroll of over 3,000,000 and 5% of that goes into a digital account that sits there and that can be used for only apprenticeship training. So, it can't be staffing costs or anything like that. It can only be used at the moment for apprenticeship training, and the government tops it by a percentage. Or if the organisation does not pay the levy, they can still access government funding through co-investment or levy transfers.”
Visit our page on apprenticeships funding explained for more info on funding options.
Jon: How do you ensure the quality and teaching and learning remains consistently high?
Emma: “Every apprenticeship provider is actually regulated by Ofsted, exactly like a school, exactly like a college. Ofsted come in and they inspect us under exactly the same framework. We also get a lot of feedback and we do quality improvement plans on an annual basis.”
Sophie: “Organisations can come to us when they are having difficulties and it's that constant conversation that means that the level stays really high, and obviously when we have curriculum reviews and things and we're quite open with those conversations as to what that will mean in the future.”
Jon: What are the key changes to Level 7 apprenticeship funding from 1 January 2026?
Sophie: “In January next year, the Level 7 funding will only be available to those who are 21 and 364 days. So, it's literally the day before your 22nd birthday is the easiest way to remember it. If you're halfway through your qualification, it doesn't matter what age you are, it is the start date that’s important. The exception here is if that you are a care giver or you have any HCP which is an educational health care plan, you can be up to 25.”
“I know as well there are a few NHS backed apprenticeships that are outside of that as well. They've got a couple of years to go forward, but that's one of the main scope of changes.”
You can find out more in our article Changes to Level 7 apprenticeship funding explained
Audience member: Do you think schools are still encouraging people to go to university?
Jack: “They're still pushing down that route, yes. So, therefore the parents aren't getting possibly the right information to make good judgement calls in terms of apprenticeships. It also depends on the school, but we'd say with the ones that we're trying to speak to, they tend to be slightly better schools, sometimes grammars or highs, they want statistics to look good in terms of going to universities like Russell Group or Oxbridge universities. It makes them look attractive, particularly if it's a private school as well, where they're fee paying and they want that kind of next-level education and they want their child to go to Oxford, or Cambridge.”
“It's usually the parents though who are a bit more aware of the potential changes or how apprenticeships are great in terms of getting paid to get a professional qualification.”
Jon: How can employers stay informed about future changes to apprenticeships funding?
Sophie: “I think from our perspective, obviously we've got a great team of business development managers who are hot on that topic. I think the thing I would say at the moment is that nothing is certain at this exact moment in time, and my advice, if you want to follow anything is to find us on LinkedIn and see what we're posting.”
“We know when the announcement was raised about Level 7, what the BBC reported was actually wrong. So, if you need advice, I would go to your training providers, such as Reed, because if they don't know the answer, they'll come to us and we'll have a conversation.”
At Reed Business School, our apprenticeship programmes are designed to help organisations develop employee skills while earning industry-standard qualifications.