Should we be worried about Skills England?

It’s a question often discussed anytime we talk about the future of apprenticeships, especially those who aren’t particular versed in the politics of skills funding.

If you are anything like me, the announcement by Kier Starmer that he is reforming the current skills landscape produced several hundred questions.

The dust was just beggining to settle on the announcement, before the Labour Conference kicked off with lots of annoucements around the future of Skills England which has produced lots of questions.

If you have been under a rock, or you were too busy having a “brat” summer (new term I just learned) then let me bring you up to date.?

Skills England is the new government body incorporating the work of IfATE to bring together various sectors to meet the country's skills needs.?

Most significantly the Labour government have announced their intention to replace the apprenticeship levy with the Growth & Skills Levy.

The Apprenticeship Levy is a form of 0.5% tax on the payroll of large businesses (over ￡3m payroll) that can only be used to fund apprenticeships. This can also be transferred to smaller businesses in need via a Levy Transfer.

Now there have been many moans coming from the business world regarding this levy, however I think it’s the right thing to do to encourage investment in apprenticeships.?

The Growth & Skills Levy aims to grant businesses more flexibility to spend that pot on other forms of training.

Cue commercial training organisations being set up to service businesses with expensive short courses so they can spend the pot!

The current governments compromise is to ring-fence 50% of that levy pot for apprenticeships.?

It looks like we are going to see the dilution of apprenticeship starts, at a time when demand is so high. So a reduction in supply is going to make it harder for those potential apprentices find an opportunity.

Whilst it may be beneficial for businesses to spend their money on other forms of training, I am not sure it will benefit the overall skills system in the way they expect.

We also saw the latest announcements of the 12 month minumum being removed and introduction of Foundation Apprenticeships which are an incredibly welcome sight. There was talk about removing some of the Level 7 apprenticeships from the scope of the levy but that is its own piece, and for now I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and watch this space.

This brings me back to my question.?

Should we be worried about Skills England??

My answer. No!

Which may come as a surprise.

I am going to bet my house we see some changes to the proposal before it goes live, and the overwhelming demand for apprenticeships has to be evident.?

Maybe we will see some other initiatives brought in to encourage investment in apprenticeships.

Also, Jessica Hill recently wrote an article for FE Week highlighting the fact Skills England is just the latest installment in government “quangos” which will likely be subject to a huge amount of setting up before any real change is seen.?

It will be interesting to watch, but for now we should just crack on, be loud and keep apprenticeships at the forefront of everyone’s mind!

If you want to hear some of the thoughts of the previous skills minister, see below: