10 February 2021

Apprenticeship starts down 27.6%, UK stats show

Latest year-on-year figures show uptake of apprenticeship courses declined by over a quarter.

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New figures have revealed there were 91,000 apprenticeship starts during the first quarter of the 2020/21 academic year, compared to 125,800 during the same period 12 months ago.

Published by National Statistics and covering the period August to October, the study logs a 'start' as a count of apprenticeship programmes that begin a new academic year of study.

The findings are not wholly surprising given the impact of COVID-19. Employees are cutting back recruitment - including the employment of apprentices - amidst the ongoing pandemic in an effort to shore up financial outgoings.

The latest government figures did not list uptake by industry but In July 2020, Materials World reported insight from the Make UK Manufacturing Monitor which conducted a survey of the sector's training and apprenticeship plans during the pandemic. Almost half of respondents at the time, 44.5%, said they had continued with their apprenticeship plans, yet it found that almost three in ten had put some or all of their apprenticeship training on hold, as firms are unable to pay wages.