Budget announces new higher apprentice places

23 Mar 2011

The 2011 Budget has announced funding for 10,000 new higher apprenticeship places in the next four years. Chancellor George Osborne pledged support for advanced manufacturing engineering, the creative and digital industries and some support for small businesses to take on higher apprentices.

In his speech Osborne said, "In Austria, Germany and Switzerland around one in four employers offer apprenticeships. In England fewer than one in ten do. That's got to change." In a major new announcement, he said that "there are currently only 1,500 higher level apprenticeships across the whole of England. This Budget provides for 10,000 more.

More detail has been published in the Government's A Plan for Growth which says that "The Government has committed to expanding Higher Apprenticeships across all sectors from current numbers (around 1,500 starts in 2009-10), which will include looking at proposals to support the Advanced Manufacturing sector - in particular developing a new Level 5 framework, which would provide a route for Apprentices to achieve professional accreditation as an engineer, is supported as a priority."

In particular they hope that this will benefit small businesses:

"This scheme will help address the concerns of small manufacturers who struggle to access Higher Apprenticeships under current delivery models. This funding will support businesses across the supply chain to build Advanced and Higher level apprenticeship schemes, covering some of the costs associated with setting up new training frameworks and putting in place training arrangements with other businesses, including large companies in the supply chain."

Lastly, there is encouragement for the digital and creative media sector where the Government says it will "expand 'flexible' advanced and higher apprenticeships which suit the freelance business models often seen in the [sector], and will provide new grant funding for SMEs delivering advanced and higher apprenticeships."