Apprenticeship starts rise 9% as shorter courses arrive, but under-19 numbers fall again

Apprenticeship starts in England rose by 9% to 372,000 in the first full year of the growth and skills levy, according to figures published on Thursday, the first rise in four years, but the number of starts by 16- to 18-year-olds fell for the seventh year in a row.

The new levy, which replaced the apprenticeship levy in 2025, allows employers to spend up to half of their contribution on shorter courses, including eight-month “foundation apprenticeships” in construction, engineering, health and digital. Those courses accounted for 61,000 of the starts; without them, the total would have fallen by 5%.

Starts by under-19s fell by 3% to 72,000, less than half the figure a decade ago, and the proportion of all starts taken by people over 25 rose to 52%. Critics say employers continue to use the system to fund training for existing staff, including management qualifications for people in their 40s, rather than to take on school leavers.

Denise Halliwell, who runs Halliwell Precision, an engineering firm in Rotherham with 44 staff, took on three 17-year-olds this September on the new foundation course after four years without an apprentice. “The old three-year standard was too long and too expensive. I was being asked to commit £40,000 and a mentor to a kid who might leave at 19,” she said. “Eight months, they are on the shop floor from week two, and if they are good I move them on to the full standard. I have already decided to keep two.”

Kieran Doyle, 17, from Sunderland, is one of them. He left school in June with five GCSEs. “My school never mentioned apprenticeships. It was sixth form or nothing. I found this on a bus advert,” he said. “I get £312 a week and I have already made a part that is in an actual lorry. Nobody in my year at sixth form has done anything that is in a lorry.”

The Department for Education said the figures showed the levy was “working for employers and learners”, and pointed to a 14% rise in starts in manufacturing and a 22% rise in construction. It has committed to a target of 100,000 under-19 starts by 2029.

Training providers warned that the target would be missed without a change in how schools present the route. The Association of Employment and Learning Providers said a survey of 1,200 school leavers found that only 29% had been told about apprenticeships by a careers adviser. “The levy is fixed. The pipeline is not,” a spokesperson said.

Degree apprenticeships, which allow people to study for a bachelor’s degree while working, rose by 11% to 48,000 starts. They remain the fastest-growing part of the system and the most criticised, with 70% of those starting them aged over 22.