Academic year 2022/23

Apprenticeships and traineeships

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See all updates (12) for Academic year 2022/23
  1. Updated with monthly starts for the first eleven months of 2022/23

  2. Updated with monthly starts for the first ten months of 2022/23

  3. Updated to add links to the interactive data visualisation tool

  4. Updated with data covering August 2022 to April 2023

  5. Updated with the monthly starts for the first eight months of 2022/23

  6. Updated with the monthly starts for the first seven months of 2022/23.

  7. Updated with the latest monthly starts for the first six months of 2022/23. Added achievement rate supporting file containing provider types

  8. Updated to add links to the interactive data visualisation tool

  9. Updated with data covering the first two quarters of 2022/23. Achievement rate data also added covering 2021/22

  10. Updated with monthly starts for the first four months of 2022/23

  11. Updated to clarify wording around interactive data visualisation tool

  12. Updated to add links to the interactive data visualisation tool

Introduction

September 2023 release

This transparency update adds additional data on monthly apprenticeship starts in the ‘Latest Apprenticeships in year data’ section to cover the period August 2022 to June 2023 (based on data returned by providers in August 2023). 

July 2023 release

This release shows provisional in-year data for apprenticeships and traineeships in England reported for the academic year 2022/23 to date (August 2022 to April 2023) based on data returned by providers in June 2023. This also includes apprenticeship service data (as of 09 June 2023) and Find an apprenticeship data (to June 2023).

Changes to the structure of the release

In January we changed the structure of the release to improve user access to content and to allow for easier maintenance. The same amount of data is still being published on a quarterly basis. If you wish to provide feedback on these changes please contact us at FE.OFFICIALSTATISTICS@education.gov.uk.

As announced in November we are changing the content of the monthly updates in between the quarterly updates. Specifically, this includes February, April, May, June, August, September and October.

We will continue to update the two existing apprenticeship starts files along with some narrative within the latest apprenticeships in year data accordion.

All other data previously published monthly, such as that covering the apprenticeship service and find an apprenticeship, will be updated in the quarterly releases (January, March, July, and November). 

Impact of COVID-19 on reporting of FE and apprenticeship data

Historic data in this release covers periods affected by varying COVID-19 restrictions, which impacted on apprenticeship and traineeship learning and also provider reporting behaviour via the Individualised Learner Record. Therefore, extra care should be taken in comparing and interpreting data presented in this release.

Please note that the ‘Explore data and files used in this release’ section contains the underlying files that underpin this release and allows expert users to interrogate and analyse the data for themselves. For pre-populated summary statistics please see the relevant section underneath, from which the data can be further explored using the ‘Explore data’ functionality. You can also view featured tables or create your own table using the ‘create your own tables' functionality.


Headline facts and figures - 2022/23

Starts (Aug - Apr)

275,630

down by 4.6% from 2021/22

What is this?

All-age (16+) apprenticeship starts in England for the 2022/23 academic year.

Participation (Aug - Apr)

703,670

up by 1.6% from 2021/22

What is this?

All-age (16+) apprenticeship participation in England for the 2022/23 academic year.

Achievements (Aug - Apr)

105,600

up by 20.1% from 2021/22

What is this?

All-age (16+) apprenticeship achievements in England for the 2022/23 academic year.

Figures for the 2022/23 academic year show:

  • Apprenticeship starts were down by 4.6% to 275,630 compared to 288,800 reported for the same period in the previous year. 
  • Under 19s accounted for 24.8% of starts (68,290).
  • Advanced apprenticeships accounted for 43.2% of starts (119,170) whilst higher apprenticeships accounted for a 34.0% of starts (93,970). 
  • Higher apprenticeships continue to grow in 2022/23. Higher apprenticeship starts increased by 6.1% to 93,670 compared to 88,240 in the same period last year.
  • Starts at Level 6 and 7 increased by 9.3% to 41,340 in 2022/23. This represents 15.0% of all starts reported to date for 2022/23. There were 37,810 Level 6 and 7 starts in the same period last year (13.1% of starts in the same period).
  • Starts supported by Apprenticeship Service Account (ASA) levy funds accounted for 67.0% (184,570).
  • Since May 2015 there have been 3,157,480 apprenticeship starts. Since May 2010 this total stands at 5,535,020.
  • Apprenticeship achievements increased by 20.1% to 105,600 compared to 87,920 reported for the same period in the previous year. Please note: COVID-19 restrictions and assessment flexibilities affected the timing of achievements, therefore care must be taken when comparing achievements between years as some achievements expected in a given academic year may have been delayed to the subsequent year.
  • Learner participation increased by 1.6% to 703,670 compared to 692,920 reported for the same period in the previous year.

Explore data and files used in this release

  • View or create your own tables

    View tables that we have built for you, or create your own tables from open data using our table tool

  • Data catalogue

    Browse and download open data files from this release in our data catalogue

  • Data guidance

    Learn more about the data files used in this release using our online guidance

  • Download all data (ZIP)

    Download all data available in this release as a compressed ZIP file

Additional supporting files

All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:

About these statistics

This statistical release presents provisional information on all age (16+) apprenticeships starts, achievements and participation in England for the 2022/23 academic year.

Also published are official statistics covering:

  • Apprenticeship service commitments
  • Employers reporting the withdrawal of apprentices due to redundancy
  • Adverts and vacancies as reported on the Find an apprenticeship website

A separate release covers overall further education and skills data, please see ‘Further education and skills’. Please note that the FE and skills release includes the adult apprenticeships and traineeships published here in its headline figures.

Individualised Learner Record (ILR) administrative data

The apprenticeship data in this release published in July 2023 are based on the tenth ILR data return from FE and apprenticeship providers for the 2022/23 academic year, which was taken in June 2023. The September monthly transparency update is based on the twelfth ILR data return (taken in August 2023). The ILR is an administrative data collection system designed primarily for operational use in order to fund training providers for learners in FE and on apprenticeship programmes.

National achievement rate tables data

Figures in the ‘national achievement rate tables’ section are as published in March 2023. These official statistics cover achievement rates for apprenticeships in the 2021/22 academic year and would have been previously released as part of the standalone National achievement rate tables publication.

Provider reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic

Historic data in this publication covers periods affected by varying COVID-19 restrictions, which will have impacted on apprenticeship and traineeship learning. Therefore, extra care should be taken in comparing and interpreting data presented in this release.

The furlough scheme may also have impacted on how aspects of ILR data were recorded, such as how the ‘learning status’ of a learner was captured, e.g. whether a learner was recorded as a continuing learner or whether they were recorded as being on a break in learning while still being with an employer.

How to find data and supplementary tables in this release

The Apprenticeships and traineeships publication still provides the same range of data it always did, but for this academic year we have made structural changes to improve user’s experience. 

We have also adopted a new naming convention for files to help users find their data of interest. We have not changed the content of these files except in a few cases where we have merged some smaller files. You can find a look-up of the old and new file names in the file called “New Release Layout - Names Lookup” that can be found in the ‘Additional supporting files’ accordion.

This section serves to signpost users to the data most relevant to their uses by detailing the routes through which it can be accessed. 

The content of the publication below contains charts and tables which highlight key figures and trends that give an overview of the national picture of the apprenticeship and traineeship landscape.

'Featured tables' provide further detail with figures broken down by common areas of interest. These can be found by going to the 'Explore data and files used in this release' section and clicking 'View or create your own tables'. Featured tables are shown in ‘Select a data set or featured table’ (Step 2). These tables are created to provide the next level of detail one might wish to find below the level of detail provided by tables embedded within the release. They also provide the user the opportunity to then amend content, reorder and take away to meet their needs. Within the release we list out the most relevant featured tables at the end of each commentary section.

In addition to featured tables you can also access underlying data files and build your own tables using the ‘Create your own tables’ tool. For example, the featured table showing enrolments by provider is produced from an underlying data file which also contains detail on the level of an aim, and it's sector subject area.

The list of files available can be accessed in the 'Explore data and files used in this release' section and clicking 'View or create your own tables'. In ‘Select a data set or featured table’ (Step 2) the file (‘data set’) of interest can be selected.

Alternatively you can modify an existing featured table by selecting it and then depending on the breakdowns available, edit the location, time period, indicators and/or filters (Steps 3, 4 and 5).

There is a dashboard that provides interactive presentation of our published data, with a number of different views on to data and ‘drilldown’ capability to allow users to investigate different types of FE provision. It is particularly helpful in viewing data across different geographical areas and providers. See the Interactive data visualisation tool accordion for the dashboard link.

This release also contains an ‘Additional supporting files’ accordion containing mainly csv files that can be downloaded, which provide some additional breakdowns including unrounded data. They are provided for transparency to enable analysts to re-use the data in this release. A metadata document is available in the same location which explains the content of these supporting files.

All of the data available in this release can be downloaded using the 'Download all data (zip)' button at the top right of this page. The 'Explore data and files used in this release' section also has the functionality to download all files, but also contains a data catalogue that allows individual files to be downloaded.

Feedback

We have made recent structural changes to how we publish our data and statistics. We continually look to improve our data and statistics and your feedback is important to help us further improve and develop. To provide feedback on this release, please email us at FE.OFFICIALSTATISTICS@education.gov.uk

Full year Apprenticeships data

The figures in this section relate to full-year final data up to and including the 2021/22 academic year and were originally published in November 2022

 

The changing apprenticeship landscape

Reform of the apprenticeships programme, along with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have influenced the trends presented in this section. Three main factors are set out in the graphic below.

Transition to employer-led apprenticeship standards;  apprenticeships of higher quality, of longer duration, with more off-the-job training and having a rigorous assessment at the end  In 2016/17, 5% of apprenticeship starts were on standards. A year later, this had increased to a third. By 2020/21, practically all starts were on standards. Introduction of the apprenticeship levy – greater control for employers to drive provision of courses  Demand for longer duration higher-level apprenticeships. 2017/18 saw a similar split between intermediate and advanced level; 43% and 44% of starts, respectively.  By 2021/22 higher-level starts accounted for 30% whereas intermediate level starts accounted for only 26%. Impact of COVID-19  Significant reduction seen in apprenticeship starts during the period affected by national and local COVID-19 restrictions. Impact on overall starts observed in months between March 2020 and October 2020 with other months being broadly in line with other years.

Table: Apprenticeship starts on frameworks and standards by level

Table: Monthly apprenticeship starts (full year)

We will update the series in this section later in the year, when complete data for 2022/23 becomes available. We plan to present a more detailed view of the trends in different subject areas, observed since 2017/18. 

 

History of apprenticeship participation

Adult participation 

Participation in apprenticeships by those aged 19+ in 2021/22 was 613,900 – an increase of 3.3% on the 2020/21 figure of 594,400. 

Putting those figures into context, the total number of adults participating in all further education and skills was just over 1.7 million in 2021/22.

All age apprenticeship participation by level

There was a steady decline in total participation between 2016/17 and 2020/21 with learner numbers falling by over a fifth from 908,700 to 713,000. 

In the same period, starts have fallen by a third - a faster rate than seen for participation. Factors driving this are that the overall length of apprenticeships has increased with the introduction of standards, and the decline of over 60% in intermediate apprentices and an increase of around 240% in higher apprenticeships, which typically take twice as long to complete.

Total participation figures for 2021/22 show an increase of 3.8% to 740,400 compared to 2020/21, though intermediate level continued to decline. At higher levels, participation has risen year-on-year.

Subject, Level and Age

Final figures reported to the end of 2021/22 show:

  • The 349,200 starts reported for the 2021/22 academic year are 8.6% higher than the 321,400 reported for 2020/21, are 8.3% higher than the 322,500 reported for 2019/20, and are 11.2% lower than the 393,400 reported for 2018/19.
  • Steady growth in higher level apprenticeships with starts at their highest volume and over five times higher than in 2014/15. Just under a third of all starts (30.5%) were at Level 4 and above compared to just 4.0% in 2014/15 
  • Starts in degree-level apprenticeships (level 6 and 7) have grown to 43,200 – representing 12.4% of all starts in 2021/22. 
  • Starts at level 6 and 7 grew by 10.3% from 39,200 the previous year and were almost four-times greater than in 2017/18, where they represented only 2.9% of all starts.
  • The share of starts for Under 19s was 22.2% compared to 30.5% for 19-24 year olds and 47.4% for those aged 25+.
  • Starts have increased for all age-groups compared to 2020/21, but Under 19s have seen the largest rise – a 19% increase compared to 12.4% for 19-24s and 2.3% for those aged 25+. Prior to 2021/22, starts by under 19s had seen the steepest decline – reducing by about half since 2015/16 compared to 38.5% for 19-24s and 27.8% for 25+. 2017/18 saw the largest single-year decline in starts for an age-group. Starts by those aged 25+ fell by a third compared to 2016/17.
  • Science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) subjects accounted for 28.2% of starts – an increase from 24.3% in the previous year. 2020/21 did see a disproportionately large drop in starts for STEM subjects – falling by 15.4% compared to 2019/20 while non-STEM grew by 5.7%.
  • Health, public services and care has taken over as the most popular tier 1 subject area (28.6% of starts), overtaking Business, Administration and Law (26.9%). Both these subject areas have seen a decline in overall share of starts since 2020/21 but the reduction in Business has been larger.
  • Engineering apprenticeships have seen their share of starts increase the most in the last year after a seeing a large decline in 2020/21. Business, Administration and Law is the subject area that has declined the most since 2018/19 having nearly 25,000 fewer starts in that time.

Apprenticeship achievements 

The 137,200 achievements reported for the 2021/22 academic year are 12.3% lower than the 156,500 reported for 2020/21, and are 25.9% lower than the 185,100 reported in 2018/19.

Levy

Total starts supported by ASA levy funds were 225,600; this accounts for around two-thirds (64.6%) of all starts. Please see About these statistics for more information about ASA levy funds.

Length of employment

The large majority of apprenticeship starts are either by new employees with up to 3 months service or established employees who have been employed for more than 12 months. In 2014/15 there was a relatively even split between these groups (around 41% of starts in each). The trend has shifted to proportionally more newer employees starting apprenticeships. In 2021/22, apprentices employed for up to 3 months accounted for 48.4% of starts where length of employment was known, compared to 35.9% who had been employed for more than a year.

Expected Duration

The expected duration of an apprenticeship is the difference between the associated start date and planned end date as recorded in the ILR.

Final figures show that the average expected duration of an apprenticeship:

  • increased from 406 days in 2011/12 to 623 days in 2021/22
  • increased by 2.1% in the last year - from 610 days in 2020/21 to 623 days in 2021/22 
  • is significantly higher for level 6 and 7 apprenticeships. The increased uptake at these levels will have contributed to the overall increase in planned duration

Ethnicity

Starts by learners from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) as a proportion of all starts have increased year-on-year to 14.7% in 2021/22. 

Since 2017/18, the growth of Asian/Asian British learners has outpaced other ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) with a 28.0% increase in starts compared to 22.4% for mixed/multiple ethnic groups and 10% for Black learners. 

Sex

Females accounted for 50.8% of starts in 2021/22. This share has fluctuated in recent years with a high of 53.4% in 2020/21, preceded by a low of 48.8% in 2019/20.

Learning Difficulties 

Apprentices declaring a learning difficulty or disability accounted for 14% of starts in 2021/22. This proportion has risen steadily from 10.1% in 2015/16.

Region

London and the South East are the only two regions to show an increased number of starts compared to 2017/18. However, accounting for population size in each region, London has the lowest rates of starts, participation and achievements. The North East and South West have the highest rates for these measures.

Apprenticeship starts, participation and achievement rates per population are also available at local authority district (LAD) level available via the ‘Explore data’ button in the map above. In these statistics, rates for Richmondshire are significantly higher than in other areas. This is due to the location of Catterick Garrison within its boundary and the high prevalence of apprenticeships in the British Army.

Provider Type

Private sector, public funded providers were responsible for around two-thirds of starts (65.2%) in 2021/22. This is slightly higher than the share of starts in these providers in 2018/19 (63.3%). Over the same period the share of starts in general FE colleges fell from 23.7% in 2018/19 to 18.7% in 2021/22.

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Headline full year comparisons - starts by age 2015/16 to 2021/22 
Headline full year comparisons - starts by age and level 2015/16 to 2021/22 
Headline full year comparisons - starts by level 2015/16 to 2021/22 
Headline full year comparisons - achievements by level 2015/16 to 2021/22

Geographical learner characteristics - ethnicity, sex, level and sector subject area 
Geographical learner characteristics - sex, level and age
Geographical - starts since 2010

Starts, Participation, Achievements by detailed learning difficulty/learner disability 
Learner characteristics by funding type 
Learner characteristics by IMD quintile (participation) 
Learner characteristics by IMD quintile (starts) 
Learner characteristics by length of employment 
Learner characteristics by sex, ethnicity, age group, LLDD 

Provider starts and achievements 

Subjects - Starts by Sector and Framework/Standard name.
Subjects - showing learner sex 
Subjects - showing starts split between frameworks and standards 

Full year Traineeships data

The figures in this section relate to full-year final data up to and including the 2021/22 academic year and were originally published in November 2022.

Traineeships are designed to be a stepping-stone to either an apprenticeship, or other work. They were introduced in the 2013/14 academic year to equip young people with work preparation/experience and basic skills. Young people aged up to and including 24 are eligible for traineeships.

Traineeship starts

There were 15,500 traineeship starts recorded in the 2021/22 academic year – a decrease of 11.1% from 2020/21. Compared to 2018/19, starts are up by 4.1%.

Of these 15,500 starts:

  • Trainees aged under 19 accounted for 61.0% (9,400)
  • Females accounted for 40.6% (6,300) 
  • Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) represented 35.9% (5,500)
  • Learners declaring a learning difficulty and/or disability (LLDD) accounted for 26.6% (4,000)

Region

The North West and London had the highest number of traineeship starts in 2021/22.

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Traineeship starts by provider 

Latest Apprenticeships in year data

The commentary and first chart/table below provide the latest starts data covering the period August to June as reported by providers in August.  Latest data will always be incomplete to some degree, especially for the latest month reported, as providers continue to update their records.  For these monthly updates we only provide a small update on starts between our fuller updates for which the latest (continuing in rest of this section below) covers August to April as published in July.

Latest updated starts (published 7th September 2023)

The 316,940 starts reported to date for the first eleven months of the 2022/23 academic year (August to June) are 3.6% lower than the 328,780 reported at the same point in the previous year.

Month by month breakdown

Starts reported so far for August and September 2022 (18,580 and 71,930) are lower than those reported at the same period in 2021 (14.4% and 12.0% lower respectively), whilst the starts in October 2022 (41,770) are 15.5% higher.

Between November and June, monthly starts have been more in line with those seen at the same period the previous year.  The 18,980 starts reported for June 2023 are 4.5% higher than the 18,150 reported for June 2022. 

An additional supporting file is available to show more detail for monthly apprenticeship starts. Please see the file named ‘Underlying data - apprenticeship monthly starts' in the Explore data and files section.

The figures in the following section were published in July 2023 and cover the first nine months (August 2022 to April 2023) of the 2022/23 academic year:

  • Apprenticeship starts were down by 4.6% to 275,630 compared to 288,800 reported for the same period in the previous year.
  • Learner participation increased by 1.6% to 703,670 compared to 692,920 reported for the same period in the previous year.
  • Higher apprenticeships continue to grow in 2022/23. Higher apprenticeship starts increased by 6.1% to 93,670 compared to 88,240 in the same period last year.
  • Starts at Level 6 and 7 increased by 9.3% to 41,340 in 2022/23. This represents 15.0% of all starts reported to date for 2022/23. There were 37,810 Level 6 and 7 starts in the same period last year (13.1% of starts in the same period).

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Headline in year comparisons - starts by age 
Headline in year comparisons - starts by funding type 
Headline in year comparisons - starts by level
Headline in year comparisons - starts by region and level

Subjects - Achievements in year comparisons

Geographical - starts and achievements by region

Monthly starts by funding type and starts month

Latest Traineeships in year data

In the latest figures covering the 2022/23 academic year:

  • Traineeship starts were down by 22.8% to 10,160 compared to 13,170 reported for the same period in the previous year.

Completion rates and conversions into apprenticeship starts

Completion rates

Provisional completion rates for traineeships that were started during the full 2021/22 academic year are included here for the first time.

Of the 15,500 traineeships started in the 2021/22 academic year:

  • 75.3% have been completed to date, a rise of 0.2 percentage points compared to the final rate for traineeships started in 2020/21 and 3.7 percentage points higher than the rate of 71.6% reported at the same point last year. 
  • 1,000 were completed under flexible arrangements (ie. with a duration of greater than 6 months), representing 8.4% of all completions.

Note: Final completion rates for traineeships started throughout the whole of 2021/22 will be provided in November 2023.

Conversion into apprenticeship starts

The conversion into apprenticeship starts measure counts the first apprenticeship start that occurs within a year (four ILR quarters) of the traineeship start. 

Of the 17,400 traineeships started in the 2020/21 academic year: 

  • 20.6% led to an apprenticeship start, which is 1.7 percentage points higher than the conversion rate of 18.9% reported for traineeships started in 2019/20.

Future revisions: For any traineeship completion where the duration of the traineeship was greater than 6 months, an additional 6-month period has been allowed to register an apprenticeship start. This means, the latest conversion rate will be revised in future releases to include any further qualifying apprenticeship starts during 2022/23. 

Traineeships incentive payments 

In September 2020, the government introduced employer incentive payments for traineeships, to support employers who hosted a work placement experience as part of a traineeship programme. 

The scheme ran from September 2020 to July 2022 and permitted employers to claim £1,000 for each placement they hosted; provided the placement lasted minimum of 70 hours and was delivered, as a minimum, over a 10 working day duration. Employers could claim £1,000 for each placement, capped at 10 placements per region across the 9 English regions, in any one academic year 

Although the incentive programme ended on 31 July 2022, a number of unprocessed claims remain in the system. We have provided the latest data here and will also update the traineeship incentives payments figures in the next quarterly release.

Up to and including June 2023:

  • 7,478 traineeship incentives payments had been made to employers
  • 3,228 individual organisations received a traineeship incentive payment
  • employers had claimed a traineeship incentive payment for 7,325 individual trainees

Note: since employers could claim for each placement, a trainee may generate more than one payment. For example, if a trainee attended two placements at the same employer in the same academic year, the employer could claim a traineeship incentive payment for each placement. Similarly, if a trainee attended two placements at different employers in the same academic year, each employer could claim a traineeship incentive payment for the trainee.

Traineeship incentive payments by local authority district

The ‘Traineeship incentive payments by June 2023’ CSV file in the ‘Additional supporting files’ section provides breakdowns of the numbers above based on the local authority district (LAD) of the learner’s home postcode for whom an employer has received a payment.

An employer or organisation may be counted against more than one LAD, where they have claimed a payment for a placement for trainees living in different LADs. 

This means the data in the ‘number of organisations receiving an incentive payment’ column of the csv file sums to more than the national total (of 3,228), which counts each individual organisation once only.

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Traineeship starts, completion rates by age and quarter

Interactive data visualisation tool

The interactive data visualisation tool has been developed to complement the Apprenticeships and traineeships publication. 

The tool provides a visual, interactive presentation of the data and gives users the capacity to investigate apprenticeship and traineeship provision across geographical areas and providers.

National achievement rate tables

The following statistics are classified as official statistics and have been produced in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, rather than being classed as national statistics and approved as such by the United Kingdom Statistics Authority. The statistics are included for transparency purposes. 

Data in this section refers to 2021/22 and was first published in March 2023. Data for 2022/23 is planned to be released in March 2024.

The National Achievement Rate Tables (NARTs) present detailed tables of provider level Qualification Achievement Rates (QARs) that we use for performance management and informed choice purposes. Additionally we provide some national summary tables to show overall performance in the sector with a three year time series to enable comparison of change in performance over time.

In March 2020, the Secretary of State announced that the summer 2020 exam series in England would be cancelled to help fight the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). This announcement also stated that Government will not publish any school, college or provider-level educational performance data based on tests, assessments or exams for the 2019/20 academic year.

In February 2021, given the continued disruption, it was confirmed this would also be the case for the 2020/21 academic year. As a consequence of the disruption to the assessment process, the government announced a change to its school and college accountability approach, stating providers will not be held to account on the basis of exams and assessment data from summer 2020. This release will therefore only contain provider level data for 2021/22.

Headline figures at a national level are available to provide a three-year time series, showing data from 2019/20 to 2021/22. That historical data has not been re-calculated and is shown as originally published in March 2022.

Data for years prior to 2019/20 can be found in the Statistics: national achievement rates tables collection.
 

 

Headline facts and figures 

The overall apprenticeship achievement rate has seen a decrease of 4.3 percentage points between 2020/21 and 2021/22 whilst the achievement rate for apprenticeship standards has seen a decrease of 0.4 percentage points.

Changes in achievement rates are dependent on a combination of retention rates and pass rates. Pass rates have decreased by 0.6 percentage points between 2020/21 and 2021/22 whilst retention rates have decreased by 4.0 percentage points.

The apprenticeship achievement rate measure is additionally reliant on the persons continued employment and in some sectors there is higher churn so caution should be used interpreting simple averages because changes in provision mix across sectors will lead to change in overall averages. 

Things you need to know about this release

The purpose of including this achievement rate data for 2019/20 and 2020/21 is to maintain the continuity of information and to provide context alongside the achievement volumes found elsewhere in this publication. It is important to maintain transparency by presenting the national level data for this cohort of learners whilst recognising the extraordinary circumstances under which apprenticeships were completed in 2019/20 and 2020/21, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A number of things will have impacted the data and as a result data should not be directly compared to data from previous years. For example there was an increase in the number of breaks in learning which meant learners being reported in a different year to the one in which they were expected to complete. Different sectors have been affected in different ways.

In 2018/19 only 6,000 learners were carried forward whereas 24,000 and 28,000 were carried forward in 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively. For 2021/22 we estimate the number of learners being carried forward is 34,000. They have fallen out of scope for 2021/22 and will be included in a future publication.

 

Impact of the transition from Frameworks to Standards 

When looking at achievement rates it is important to consider the impact of programme change in the nature of the provision resulting from the transition of frameworks to standards. Standards are designed to be more demanding than traditional frameworks. The assessment process is also more rigorous with a specific end point assessment phase following completion of training designed to ensure the apprentice is ready to do the job they have been trained for. 

The proportion of learners on frameworks and standards has changed significantly since previous years. In 2019/20 the proportion of learners on standards stood at 46%. For 2021/22 the proportion has now reached 85%. 

Apprenticeship achievement rates for individual standards and frameworks for 2021/22 can be found in the ‘Apprenticeship Achievement Rates Subject - Standards and Frameworks’ featured table in our create your own tables tool.

Impact of sector subject area

The mix of achievement rates across each sector subject area can be found to vary which can affect the national average, where figures could be found to be misleading. 

Only Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care saw an increase in 2021/22, by 0.2 percentage points. All other sector subject areas have seen a decrease. The largest decreases, with significant volumes, were seen in Health, Public Services, and Care, decreasing by 7.8 percentage points, and Information and Communication Technology, decreasing by 7.7 percentage points. 

For 2021/22 the sector subject areas with the highest achievement rates are Agriculture, horticulture, and animal care (62.4%), Education and Training (61.9%), Leisure and Tourism (59.5%). STEM subjects have an overall achievement rate of 57.3% where as non-STEM subjects have an overall achievement rate of 52%.

Background information 

National achievement rate tables are based on underlying Qualification Achievement Rates (QAR) data. Information about the process surrounding QARs can be found here: 

Introduction to Qualification Achievement Rates (QARs)

How rates are calculated

Information about how QARs are calculated can be found here : 

Qualification achievement rates 2021 to 2022

 

Overall apprenticeship achievement rates by learner characteristics

The figures in this section cover the achievement rates for those learners who are from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities). Please note the figures for “White” include white minorities.

In 2021/22, learners from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) had an overall apprenticeship achievement rate of 48.3%, a decrease of 4.7 percentage points from 53.0% in 2020/21. 

As is the case when looking into other learner attributes the variation in achievement rates by ethnicity is mainly driven by the mix of sector subject areas being undertaken. For 2021/22 this is driven by a large cohort volume of 10,850 for the Health, Public Services and Care sector (15.7% of all learners were from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities)) and 11,320 for the Business, Administration and Law sector (14.4% of all learners were from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities)) with overall achievement rates of 48.1% and 45.7% respectively. By comparison, only 8.1% of learners in the Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies sector were from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities).

The sector with the highest achievement rate for learners from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) was Leisure, Travel and Tourism with 64.5%. The lowest achievement rate was for the Arts, Media and Publishing sector with 42.1%.

Caution should be used interpreting simple averages because differences in provision mix across sectors will lead to change in overall averages. Press the green ‘Explore data’ button above to look at the data by age, level, sector subject area.

 

 

Apprenticeship overall achievement rates by detailed level

Achievement rates at levels 6 and 7 increased in 2021/22 when compared to 2020/21. Achievement rates decreased at all other levels. 

For data on individual providers for 2021/22 please see the featured table called ‘Apprenticeship achievement rates by provider’ in our create your own tables tool.

 

2021/22 is the first year in which a fair comparison can be drawn for apprenticeships supported by ASA levy funds. The levy was first introduced in 2017 but, given that achievement rates are calculated using a multiyear data set, 2021/22 is the first year in which significant volumes of those who would have started under the levy system can be observed.

 

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Apprenticeship Achievement Rates by age and level

Apprenticeship Achievement Rates by individual standard / framework

Apprenticeship achievement Rates by provider

Apprenticeship Achievement Rates by provider type and level

 

To view achievement rates by provider, with provider type, please see the supporting ‘Apprenticeship Achievement Rates - By Provider with Provider Type’ file in the ‘Additional supporting files’ accordion. 

 

Redactions

We have redacted two providers from our formal performance tables (NARTs) where we are unable to form a reliable QAR. This is done where the data we hold does not allow us to calculate a reliable estimate and therefore provides an unfair measure of performance. We publish headline information for these providers separately for transparency, but they do not constitute a formal QAR and should not be used to compare performance. The underpinning data is included in our national achievement rates to provide a complete view of performance. Details can be found in the ‘Apprenticeship Achievement Rates – Transparency Redactions.pdf’ supporting file in the ‘Additional supporting files’ accordion.

 

Traineeships

Positive destination rates have been calculated for Traineeships for the first time and are provided here for transparency. Users should note the caveats for these new rates that are based on provider information on destinations and how this compares with existing measures we publish in this release for traineeships on completions and conversion to apprenticeships and in the Outcome Based Success Measures release. 

Traineeship positive destination rates are produced to provide a measure of performance that is aligned to other QAR measures for apprenticeships and education and training. In common with other QARs they count the total number of learners who were due to complete in the given year (the denominator). However for Traineeship we determine an achievement (the numerator) as being activity where a positive destination is recorded in the Individualised Learner Record rather than a successful pass of the programme or qualification entered. 

Out of the 16,230 traineeships in 2021/22 56.0% had a positive destination recorded.

 

Points to note on how traineeships QARs are measured

The positive destinations method for traineeships is reliant on providers accurately being able to report destinations in the ILR. 56.0% were reported as going into employment or other forms of training including part time FE learning. A large number of traineeships, 44.0%, are currently reported with “not applicable” as their destination, and these are not counted as having a successful outcome. While many may not be applicable because they did not have a successful outcome, there will be cases where providers do not know the outcome and the learner did find employment or go into other learning. 

Technical specifications for how achievement rates are calculated can be found in the Qualification achievement rates 2021 to 2022 guidance.

Further information on Traineeship funding rules including how the performance management process works can be found in the ESFA funding for traineeships guidance.

Points to note on how traineeship QARs compare with other data published

In the Traineeship section of this release we publish total starts and how many of these completed. This will vary from the QAR measure because this counts all starts observed in the year including those due to complete in the following year. This measure also allows for COVID flexibilities. 

In the Traineeship section of this release we also publish conversions to apprenticeships which for 2020/21 were 20.6% This is based on administrative data and takes all the known starts for a year and tracks any learner found in an apprenticeship in the following year. The QAR method only relies on what providers have captured directly or from a learner so this administrative measure is a more complete observation of who goes onto apprenticeships.

The Outcome Based Success Measures statistics publication uses the LEO dataset that brings together DfE, HMRC and DWP records to show positive outcomes over the October to March period after the year a learner completes. The latest data for 2019/20 completers shows 59% had a sustained positive destination and a further 23% having a positive destination that was not sustained (which will include those doing shorter periods of further learning or employment).

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Traineeship Positive Destinations by provider

Public sector apprenticeships 2022-23

The following statistics are classified as official statistics and have been produced in compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. They are not designated as national statistics by the United Kingdom Statistics Authority.

The public sector apprenticeship target

Between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2022, public sector bodies in England with 250 or more staff were set a Government target to employ an average of at least 2.3% of their staff as new apprentice starts. 

Outcomes against the target were published in the Apprenticeships and traineeships 2021/22 release and detailed information about measurement and the organisations in scope are set out in the Further education and skills statistics: methodology.

Public sector apprenticeships data return 2022-23

Though no longer a statutory requirement, public sector bodies were asked to continue to collect and report data on their apprenticeships activity in 2022-23 to support transparency and external accountability, and to help maintain the momentum public sector bodies have built up.

Full details relating to the revised guidance can be found in Publishing public sector apprenticeships data: guidance for public sector bodies, April 2023.

Figures in this section provide an early, condensed view of apprenticeships activity across public sector organisations that have made a 2022-23 data return. They focus on new apprenticeship starts as a proportion of all employees which is consistent with the measurement of the previous target.

Additional data showing the change in prevalence of apprentices in the public sector workforce between the start and end of 2022-23 will be published as part of final full-year Apprenticeships and traineeships release in November.

Figures supplied by public sector bodies (up to and including 30 June 2023) suggest that for the period covering 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023:

  • New apprenticeship starts represented 1.7% of total employees. This is slightly lower than the 1.8% reported between the same dates in the previous year.
  • A combined total of 60,300 apprenticeship starts have been reported.

Sub-sectors

There was variation in the recruitment of apprentices in different parts of the public sector. During the period April 2022 to March 2023:

  • The armed forces had the highest proportion of apprenticeship starts, with 5.8% of their employees starting an apprenticeship. 
  • The take up of police constable and operational firefighter apprenticeship standards have contributed to the police and fire authorities being the next highest employers, both at 2.6%
  • The Civil Service, at 1.7%, was in line with the national average for the whole public sector. 
  • Academy trusts and local authority maintained schools have the lowest rate of apprenticeship recruitment, averaging at 1.0% and 0.7% respectively.

School returns

For the 2022-2023 period, the data collection was modified to allow local authorities who are responsible for maintaining schools to separate out staff in schools from the total local authority headcounts and apprentices as reported in previous years.

State funded schools employing more than 250 staff and not maintained by a Local Authority (e.g. academies and academy trusts) came into scope for the previous target from 31 March 2018.

From the public sector returns, there were 3,700 new apprentices reported in academy trusts in 2022-23. There were an additional 2,800 apprenticeship starts in schools administered by local authorities between April 2022 and March 2023.

Additional analysis and transparency data

The following statistics are classified as official statistics and have been produced in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, rather than being classed as national statistics and approved as such by the United Kingdom Statistics Authority. The statistics are included for transparency purposes. 

Apprenticeship adverts and vacancies (UPDATED 20 JULY 2023)

The apprenticeship adverts and vacancies in this section are a snapshot of Find An Apprenticeship (FAA), a digital system supporting apprenticeship advertisement and recruitment. They represent only a subset of the total number of vacancies available across the marketplace, as many apprenticeships are not advertised through this website.

The number of vacancies advertised reflects the total number published on Find an apprenticeship, but may not reflect the actual number of positions available. This is particularly the case for large national employers that may advertise the same positions across multiple locations simultaneously.

There were 8,280 adverts, covering 13,520 vacancies on Find An Apprenticeship in June 2023.

The ‘Underlying data – apprenticeship vacancies’ file in the ‘Additional supporting files’ accordion contains more information about the vacancies and adverts published on Find an apprenticeship. This file is updated alongside our quarterly releases. The current file was published in July 2023 and covers vacancies from August 2018 to June 2023.

Find apprenticeship training 

For employers looking to take on apprentices, see find apprenticeship training if you're an employer.

The service can be used to: 

  • Search for apprenticeship training by job role or keyword
  • Find training providers who offer the apprenticeship training you choose
  • Find a named training provider you want to use

 

Employers reporting the withdrawal of apprentices due to redundancy (UPDATED 20 JULY 2023)

From 30 July 2020, employers have been able to record on the Apprenticeship Service (AS) if an apprenticeship has ended due to a redundancy. This will provide more accurate and timely data on redundancies than that captured via the ‘withdrawal reason’ on the ILR and will be a reliable ongoing source of data. 

Additionally, employers can record information about redundancies at a later date on the AS, therefore the information can suffer from ‘data lag’ with information being recorded weeks or months after the redundancy actually happened.

Additional information

For apprentices who have been made redundant, or who are at risk of redundancy, please see the Redundancy support for apprentices guidance.

 

Apprenticeship care leaver’s bursary payments, 2018/19 to 2022/23 (reported as at 09 June 2023)

Academic year

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23 (reported to date)

Number of bursary payments280320210350260

Additional Funding for Employers and Training Providers

In addition to the care leavers’ bursary, training providers and employers receive a payment towards the additional cost associated with training if, at the start of the apprenticeship, the apprentice is:

  • aged between 16 and 18 years old, or
  • aged between 19 and 24 years old and has either:
  • an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan provided by their local authority or
  • has been in the care of their local authority

For more information, please refer to the apprenticeship funding rules.

Apprenticeship service Commitments (UPDATED 20 JULY 2023)

 

Apprenticeship service transfers (UPDATED 20 JULY 2023)

In April 2018 it became possible for levy-paying organisations to transfer up to 10 per cent of the annual value of funds entering their apprenticeship service account to other organisations via the apprenticeship service. This increased to 25 per cent from April 2019.

As of 09 June 2023, there have been 8,160 apprenticeship service commitments entered into the apprenticeship service with training start dates in the 2022/23 academic year, where the transfer of funds between ASAs has been approved. A further 150 commitments were pending approval for the transfer of funds.

A csv file containing breakdowns of transfers that have been recorded as starts on the ILR (as published in July 2023) can be downloaded from the ‘Additional supporting files’ accordion (see ‘Underlying data – starts arising from transferred commitments’). This file is updated alongside our quarterly releases, with the next update expected in November 2023.

Please note that providers may not record learners immediately on the ILR, so a lag may occur between a commitment being recorded in the apprenticeship service and the corresponding commitment being recorded as a start on the ILR.

Additionally, as commitments can be recorded/amended on the apprenticeship service system after the transfer approval date has passed, all data should be treated as provisional. Data are only fully captured when providers confirm details in the ILR. In the interests of transparency, what is known at this point of reporting has been included where possible.

Levy transfer matching service (UPDATED 20 JULY 2023)

Pledges

As of 09 June 2023:

  • The total number of pledges made by levy-paying employers was 418.
  • The total amount pledged stood at £28.28 million.

Note: these figures reflect the cumulative total of pledges since September 2021. Those that are currently available can be found at Search funding opportunities (manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk).

Applications

As of 09 June 2023:

  • the total number of applications submitted was 13,450 through 2,210 different Apprenticeship Service accounts.

The total number of apprentices applied for was 44,069. This figure will include employers submitting multiple applications for the same funding to different pledges. The number of unique apprenticeship positions applied for is difficult to determine, however it is likely to be in the range of 20 to 50 per cent of the total number of apprentices applied for.

The number of approved applications was 2,383.

Additional featured tables

The following featured tables offer more detailed breakdowns and combinations of characteristics and are available in our create your own tables tool:

Commitments by training start date, age and commitment status 2018/19 to 2022/23 
Monthly starts by funding type 2019/20 to 2022/23 
Redundancies by redundancy month and level 2020/21 to 2021/22 Final, 2022/23 reported to date 
Vacancies and Adverts posted on the Find An Apprenticeship website 

Help and support

Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

National statistics

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority designated these statistics as National Statistics in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Designation signifying their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Once designated as National Statistics it's a statutory requirement for statistics to follow and comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics to be observed.

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Apprenticeships and traineeships statistics and data:

FE Stats Dissemination

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FE.OFFICIALSTATISTICS@education.gov.uk

Telephone: Matthew Rolfe
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