This release provides statistics on Skills Bootcamps completions and outcomes in England as reported to the department by Skills Bootcamps providers.
We would welcome feedback on any aspect of these statistics - including how they are used. If you'd like to get in touch, please use the contact details available on the publication page
Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Find out more about Skills Bootcamps at this link: Skills Bootcamps - Skills for Life (opens in a new tab). Skills Bootcamps were first launched in Autumn 2020. Delivered across 6 areas of England, they focused on digital skills including cyber security, coding, software development and engineering, data analysis and digital marketing. There were also some technical Skills Bootcamps in rail engineering, engineering construction, photonics, broadband installation, specialist welding and advanced brickwork. Data about this delivery (between September 2020 and March 2021) can be found at this link Skills Bootcamps outcomes, Financial Year 2020-21 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk).
The model was expanded in the 2021-22 financial year (FY), to make Skills Bootcamps available across England in a wider range of skill areas including digital, technical (including engineering and manufacturing), construction, and skills that support the green economy. The model was further expanded in November 2021 to provide Skills Bootcamps in HGV driving, to help address the national skills shortage in this sector. Data about this delivery (between April 2021 and March 2022) can be found at this link Skills Bootcamps starts, Financial year 2021-22 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)
Alongside these data, DfE has commissioned an independent evaluation of Skills Bootcamps undertaken in FY2021-22 and FY2022-23. The first research report (opens in a new tab) from this evaluation has been published. Further reports will be available to provide insight into the effectiveness and impact of Skills Bootcamps.
Data was collected by the Department from each of the Skills Bootcamps providers. Providers were required to report on learner starts, completions and outcomes.
The total estimated number of starts has been separated into starts for Skills Bootcamps in HGV Driving and starts for all other courses. This breakdown is provided to enable direct comparison with future statistical releases for learner completions and outcomes for each financial year.
One person can enrol on more than one Skills Bootcamp. A start is an instance of training, not the number of individuals trained.
Starts were defined for FY2021-22 courses by identifying records for each Skills Bootcamp for which a valid start date between 01/04/2021 and 31/03/2022 was recorded, along with a date when the provider received their first payment milestone.
For 2021-22 courses that were part of contracts extended from FY2020-21 and those that were delivered in cold spots and grants areas (areas where DfE identified gaps in provision in England where targeted recruitment took place), there was no payment milestone but there was a start date. However, there were cases where some learners had no logged start date, but had attendance, completion, or participation data recorded. Therefore, the methodology for a valid start was updated for these courses so that participants with attendance, participation or completion data were recorded as having a valid start. In other instances, learners had a start date but had been marked as “not offered a place”, so had not started the course and were therefore excluded from the starts figure.
The starts figure for FY2021-22 was updated in September 2024 to reflect the change in methodology above, as well as the incorporation of a number of starts from providers that were not included in the initial release.
The methodology used to determine starts means that the reported figure is conservative. It is possible providers did not record all required data for some starts which may mean the estimate is lower than the true figure.
In a change from 2021-2022, starts for Skills Bootcamps delivered via contracts were derived from the Individualised Learner Record in FY2022-2023. Starts for all other funding streams were defined by identifying records in two ways:
Skills Bootcamps that were delivered via contracts were derived from the Individualised Learner Record. For all other Skills Bootcamps, data were collected from provider's own records and compiled by DfE from individual provider submissions. Inconsistences and errors in the way starts data was reported between providers were identified. Data were therefore subject to a number of quality checks, including:
If you have a specific enquiry about Skills Bootcamps starts statistics and data:
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