30/06/2017

A ‘huge amount of work’ has gone into the guidelines and illustrative examples through which the Dept for Education explains the core requirement of the new apprenticeship levy that a minimum 20% of apprentices’ paid time at work must be devoted to high quality ‘off the job’ training. 

Keith Smith, director of funding and programmes for the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) which is overseeing the apprenticeship levy, is also reported to have urged employers to read them as they describe ‘an area of zero tolerance for non-compliance’.

Employers with a wages bill of more than £3m pa have had to pay the apprentice levy since 6 April, when the new Apprentice Standards began to replace the existing Specifications for Apprenticeship Standards in England (SASE) frameworks.

It is expected that 600-800 new Apprenticeship Standards involving at least 12 months’ employment will eventually replace 250 – 300 SASE frameworks, with the switch-over expected to take until 2020.

The guidelines in ‘Apprenticeships: off-the-job training’ will apply to both Apprenticeship Standards and Frameworks until the switch over is completed.

Defined in the guidelines as “… learning which is undertaken outside of the normal day to-day working environment and leads towards the achievement of an apprenticeship”, off-the-job training must take place over at least at least 20% of the time spent in paid time employment over the working – as opposed to the academic – year.

Training which takes place outside the apprentice’s paid working hours is among the activities that cannot be counted towards the 20% threshold.

Compliance with the off-the-job training threshold falls under the ESFA funding rules and is subject to the normal audit arrangements. Assessments and progress reviews will also establish whether it is successfully teaching new knowledge, skills and/or behaviours.

In addition to a background to the development of the policy, which includes a link to ‘English apprenticeships: our 2020 vision’, the guidelines include sections on

  • when and where off-the-job training should take place
  • how it should be delivered
  • the roles of inductions, progress reviews and assessments
  • judging whether an activity should be classed as off-the-job training
  • blended learning
  • English and Maths
  • measuring and recording off-the job-training