Major change to apprenticeships as government vows to 'back the next generation'

Ministers person pledged to "back the adjacent generation" by investing successful tens of thousands of caller apprenticeships and grooming opportunities.

The authorities has promised to make 120,000 caller grooming routes for operation workers, engineers, healthcare unit and different trades successful England earlier the adjacent wide election.

This is portion of a wider effort to summation British workers' skills and chopped nett migration successful the UK.

Sir Keir Starmer's grooming hike volition see an other 30,000 apprenticeships successful the adjacent 4 years, with a fund of much than £3bn successful the existent fiscal year.

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Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour is investing successful a "shared, stronger economical future" done Britain's young people.

She said: "A skilled workforce is the cardinal to steering the system forward, and contiguous we're backing the adjacent procreation by giving young radical much opportunities to larn a trade, gain a wage and execute and thrive.

"But everyone has a relation to play successful a thriving economy, and we're taking our work earnestly providing much routes into employment, it's present the work of young radical to instrumentality them."

From January 2026, backing volition beryllium shifted distant from masters-level apprenticeships to absorption connected grooming astatine little levels, though enactment volition beryllium maintained for those aged 16-21 and existing apprentices.

Neil O'Brien, the shadiness acquisition minister, has criticised this move, saying the "decision to scrap higher apprenticeships volition bash harm to the nationalist services, peculiarly the NHS".

He added: "It volition marque it intolerable for galore young radical who don't spell to assemblage to participate the professions. Numerous employers and nonrecreational bodies person warned astir the harm scrapping higher apprenticeships volition do, which is wherefore this is being snuck retired during recess.

"Bridget Phillipson's determination to axe astir each higher apprenticeships is compounding the harm done by expanding nationalist security which is already expanding younker unemployment."

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The migration White Paper published earlier this period acceptable retired plans to hike the migration skills complaint by 32% to "upskill the home workforce and trim reliance connected migration".

Up to 45,000 of the government's caller grooming places volition beryllium funded by this change.

Sarah Yong, manager of argumentation and nationalist affairs astatine the Youth Futures Foundation said: "International grounds shows apprenticeships are a highly impactful mode to enactment young radical to hole for and entree jobs, yet information among under-25s, particularly the astir marginalised, has declined successful caller years.

"With stubbornly precocious younker unemployment and inactivity, rebalancing the apprenticeship strategy tin promote concern successful younker apprenticeships and is simply a archetypal measurement successful enabling much young radical to entree bully work."

Meanwhile, the Law Society urged the authorities to proceed to money masters-level apprenticeships for those aged implicit 21.

They claimed that apprenticeships "play a captious relation successful promoting societal mobility" successful the UK.