1. Strategic implications of the Apprenticeship reforms Getting to grips with Apprenticeship standards
This session will last up to an hour and is for leaders and governors to familiarise themselves with the strategic implications of the new apprenticeships – using the information gathered to date.
Leaders and governors are advised to book onto the one day workshop that will consider these changes in depth and allow time for discussion with experienced facilitators and providers currently delivering trailblazers. The final slides gives details of these workshops and also links to further support that is available as well as links to government websites where the latest information will be published.
Commissioned and funded by ETF. Delivered by AELP and partners.

2. English Apprenticeships: Our 20:20 vision
The overall vision is for Apprenticeships to be ‘available across all sectors of the economy and at all levels including degree level …. an attractive offer that young people and adults aspire to go into as a high quality and prestigious path to a successful career’.

3. New Apprenticeships Employer designed and employer purchased
New language and terminology – assessor, trainer, on-programme, gateway
New standards designed by employers (replacing frameworks)
One standard for each ‘occupation’ sector
Simplify the system – short & easy to understand (KSB competence)
Assessment plan with new end-point assessment regime to increase quality
Specified requirement - English and maths to level 2
Key questions still remaining:
The new funding model and how the Apprenticeship levy and funding charges for SMEs will work.
Cost of end-point assessments
Quality apprenticeships require a commitment from employers that goes beyond paying cash for training. Putting employers in control of designing the standards that apprentices train against and the assessment plans that they will be assessed against to ensure that they really are competent to do the job that they have been training to do.
Terminology:
Assessor – independent assessor who administers and grades the end-point assessment. Apprenticeship certificate by an independent assessment organisation. Assessors will have a similar status to an Ofsted inspector but have a different set of skills, including very good industry knowledge.
Trainer – on-programme delivery provider
On-programme – the training period. This may include assessments, but these do not form part of the final apprenticeship assessment unless specifically referenced in the assessment plan.
Language: Standards replace frameworks
Gateway – the suite of qualifications, training and achievement required to permit a candidate to attempt the end-point assessment.
KSB – Knowledge, skills and behaviour
We need to be understand and be using the correct terminology when talking to employers.
New standards
Published on gov.uk website as ‘ready for delivery’, once the assessment plan is approved and a funding band is allocated.
Layout: Short (1 side A4), clear statement of the tasks an apprentice would be competent in.
Assessment plans
The assessment plan will set out the skills, knowledge and behaviours required together with the assessment methods to be used. Each assessment plan will be individually costed based on the specific assessment tools and methods needed and these will be fixed regardless of the cost of the overall apprenticeship.
Before the end assessment takes place the apprentice has to be signed off as ready by the employer – therefore on-going tracking of progress will need to be undertaken by employer with support from the training provider (and not just by the provider as before).
End point assessments vary. Methods include: production of a portfolio; reflective statements; a practical skills assessment; knowledge tests; role simulation or scenario based exercise; panel interview and journal evidencing core behaviours.
English & maths:
All apprentices must be given the support to get to a level 2 in English and maths. The new standards will require the apprentices to take the test for the level 2 before starting, whether or not the apprentice has the required knowledge. This could be very demotivating for the apprentices.
Therefore if the provider has assessed the learner and they are below level one then they should start the learner at that level and progress them to level 2.
Questions:
What are the strategies for English & maths? Do you have one?
How are governors holding the senior team to account for the impact of the maths & English strategy?
What evidence have you seen of improvements in attainment of maths & English?
Key questions remaining
There are still questions that remain, and we can only answer these as knowledge becomes available.

4. New standards Over 1,300 businesses in over 100 sectors involved
199 standards published so far
71 ‘ready to deliver’ – Standard and assessment plan approved
Funding Cap allocated
154 standards in development
Over 40% Higher and Degree
Scores on the doors – change weekly!

5. Frameworks to Standards
Delivering quantity and quality?
New delivery model
Staffing and resources
Employer engagement
Delivery partnerships
Communication
Learner progression
Ofsted – what are they looking for?
… and don’t forget the migration from frameworks to standards (by 2017?)
New delivery model
Review standards available
Map current provision to new standards
Considerations:
What are you going to offer? What do employers want?
How will you deliver the end-point assessment for chosen standards?
Quality monitoring?
What’s your costing model? How will this support your financial planning and cash flow?
2. New equipment, resources, staff and upskilling of existing staff, financial implications
Don’t underestimate the time it will take staff to design the overall training programmes, develop new learning materials and provide necessary staff development to ensure you are equipped to deliver and or assess the new components.
You will have to:
Carry out skills mapping of current staff
Identify gaps and either recruit of upskill through CPD
Redefine the role of the assessor
Create new resources for learning
Look at resources required for delivery and end-point assessment
Considerations: Do you have facilities and capacity for the planned delivery models? Use of technology? End point assessment?
3. Employer engagement
It will be vitally important for providers to build close relationships with employers both SMEs and the larger employers paying the levy.
Strategically this will support future curriculum, to gain market intelligence for future jobs and to provide work placements and CPD for staff. development (see Ofsted slide next)
Financially income diversification is a key priority for colleges. Developing a number of high-yield key accounts may help you to win large commercial training contracts as well as significant apprenticeship business.
Why?
Employers will need support to understand the changes and the new Apprenticeships – how they work etc.
From August 2017 employers will be empowered to initiate the training process, identify potential apprentices and then select the training provider they want to deliver.
The provider would then agree delivery and for SMEs agree their contribution.
Note: ITPs would also have to charge VAT.
This would trigger the activation of the voucher system which would draw down funds to the provider.
Control of funding will be put in the hands of employers via the Digital Apprenticeship Service (online portal)from October to ensure it delivers the training
they need. They will be able to select the most appropriate apprenticeships, choose a training provider and pay for training and assessment.
c) Operating in a truly competitive marketplace for the first time
Many new high quality training providers will be attracted into the sector, having previously been put off by their inability to gain a direct contract from SFA and
their unwillingness to subcontract and effectively put a key revenue stream through a Prime Contractor who is charging a management fee that they
themselves have set.
With the new apprenticeships, apprenticeship delivery becomes a much more attractive commercial proposition. With both mandatory employer monetary
contributions and increased funding levels from government the overall size of the market has increased.
Colleges and ITPs who have relied on sub-contracting as a useful revenue stream will need to think again.
d) BIS have confirmed that employers with a wage bill of £3m or less will not pay the levy. Therefore there are 2 distinct groups of employers to target, some of
whom may not currently be offering apprenticeships.
Large employers with existing schemes: may be able to use their Levy payments to support their existing apprenticeship programmes – need clarification from BIS. They will no longer be subject to a statutory 25% reduction in funding nor will they be required to contribute 50% towards the cost of Functional Skills (the government has stated that it will fund providers directly at a rate of £471 per Aim). Therefore many of these companies should significantly increase the size and scope of their programmes.
Large employers not currently offering apprenticeship programmes may want a return on their investment (levy) and so could be tempted and will need support. They will be large, and have large training budgets. They will turn their expenditure towards Apprenticeships. Building key relationships with these employers will be vital.
e) Big challenge will be to get SMEs involved, who are clearly a major target in order to achieve the government ambition of 3M, but the funding policy on SMEs is still not clear; until clarified the current system (i.e 2:1) will apply, contributing £1 for every £2 of government funding.
There is currently a culture of ‘free training’. Will they then refuse to pay for something they have previously had as free?
Those who haven’t been tempted before – why now? What will make them want to?
f) How will you build and sustain those relationships – they have to be built on trust – to deliver appropriate training, support recruitment of best apprentices, and deliver quality that the employer is happy with. The easier and better the training is for the employer the more likely they are to come back to you. Most providers have developed working relationships with employers over the past 10 years and so have good foundations on which to build.
Questions:
How will you keep ahead of the competition?
How can you build long term strategic relationships with the 2% of employers who will be paying the levy?
How will you persuade SMEs to take on apprentices without funding?
4. Delivery of ‘specialist’ skills – relationships with specialist providers
Employers will choose their own training provider but will understand if the lead provider cannot deliver all the skills. However the employer will only want to
deal with one provider, so the lead may manage the supply chain. This is where the question of quality will arise – how thorough will the checks be on quality
with other providers? There is no longer a need to declare who is delivering what – but the employer will feed back.
Increased access routes – lifting from August 2016 of the Ofsted Grade 1 & 2 criteria that has prevented many good quality providers from offering
Traineeships, which will make a difference to the availability of places and therefore of access routes into Apprenticeships
If quality was an issue, providers could use quality to standards to either achieve recognition, or develop their own QA standard. For example The Merlin
Standard -designed to support organisations develop, recognise and promote sustainable excellence and positive partnership working within supply chains.
The Merlin Standard was developed over 2 years by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), in collaboration with representatives of the welfare sector in
response to concerns raised by providers operating as subcontractors over fair treatment by prime providers.
Question: How will you select and ensure the quality of other providers delivering specialist skills with your employers?
5. Communication - external
Marketing your offer to employers and learners will be an important past of your strategy. How can you effectively inform large employers, SMEs and learners
of your offer? How can you use marketing channels to make yourself their provider of choice?
What information can you use?
Industrial Partnerships e.g. The Tech Partnership have useful information and statistics on their websites.
Collecting and collating data of what former apprentices are now doing will be useful to use to promote apprenticeships.
Many parents and students remain resistant to the idea of an apprenticeship, either through lack of information or because they doubt their usefulness.
Public sector bodies will be required to employ apprentices and be set targets to increase apprenticeship numbers. Will your marketing vary?
Potential issues:
Do your employers have enough vacancies for the number of prospective apprentices you have? One of the major issues is the availability of high quality apprenticeship places for year olds that lead to real jobs.
What about the readiness of young people to progress? Not all 17 year olds are ready to take on the challenge of work – they may need more time learning the softer skills needed to be a good employee.
How well are you working with schools on developing employability skills?
5. Communication internally
It will be important for staff to be kept up to date on changes and what is happening, and see they are supported.
6. Learner progression
Progression to Apprenticeships courses
Intermediate and Advanced Apprenticeships. Encouraging progression from L2 – L3. However Nick Boles has been quoted as saying “If you’re a big employer and you’re paying a huge levy bill there is no way that you’re going to be able to employ enough L2 apprentices to use up your levy.
Higher and Degree apprenticeships – suitable for school leavers, and also for existing apprentices looking to progress in their careers.
8. See next slide

6. Ofsted: Apprenticeships: developing skills for future prosperity (October 2015)
Recommendations for providers:
High standard provision that enables development of complex skills leading towards the advanced- and higher-level skills needed by employers
Sufficient off-the-job training for apprentices to develop and practice new skills
Providers have teaching expertise and resources to develop the knowledge and skills in English and mathematics
Promote Apprenticeships to disabled people and/or SEN with trained staff to support
Subcontracting arrangements be closely monitored for quality and take swift action to tackle poor performance.
Ofsted will ensure that inspections focus on evaluating the impact of apprenticeships on enhancing the nation’s skills set.
Findings
1. Leaders of the apprenticeship provision reviewed did not focus sufficiently on improving the quality and impact of apprenticeships
Only half of the 22 providers visited for this survey had effective strategies for assuring the quality of apprenticeships and meeting the skills needs of local employers. Typically, providers did not assess the value of their apprenticeships to individual learners, businesses and the economy, and the quality of subcontracted apprenticeships was not monitored closely enough.
2. Small- and medium-sized enterprises were not sufficiently involved in apprenticeships New Trailblazer apprenticeships are dominated by large employers. Small companies are not involved enough in developing the new frameworks or in taking on apprentices. They told inspectors that they fear that a burden of bureaucracy, currently managed by the training provider, would fall on them and this deters them from taking on an apprentice.
3. Young people still face too many barriers to becoming apprentices. Schools and colleges are not promoting apprenticeships sufficiently to young people and their parents. Young people are not being taught the necessary practical and employability skills, and some employers are reluctant to invest in developing these. As a result, too few young people, particularly the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, become apprentices.
FINAL QUESTION: TAKING EVERYTHING YOU HAVE HEARD INTO ACCOUNT – WHAT WILL YOUR NEW BUSINESS MODEL LOOK LIKE?

7. What are training providers advising?
Keep informed
Understand intentions
Know your specialism
Route to market
Employer contributions
Pilot new standards
Capability of delivery & engagement teams
Internal review
Get
practising
Market position
Employer communication
The Babington Group have given advice on how to get involved now!
Get practising
Employer communication
Market position
Internal review

8. What are colleges advising?
Skills mapping of staff
CPD
Assessor role
Estates and capacity based on delivery models
Use of technology
World of school/college to world of work
Entry points
Employability/pathway to Apprenticeship
HE Opportunities
Large employer /SME relationship strategy
Sales strategy aligned to incentives
CRM
Stakeholder engagement (LEP)
Market need assessment
Centralised v distributed in curriculum schools
Clear costing model to support financial planning and cash flow
Mapping current provision to new standards
End point assessment
Quality monitoring
Delivery model
Employer Engagement
Staff & Resources
Learner
Progression
Employer communication
Leeds College
Looking at things slightly differently, but with the same aim

9. Leading your organisation to successful apprenticeship delivery
Seminars designed to help senior leaders and those involved in governance lead their organisations through the Apprenticeships reforms and prepare for growth in Apprenticeship delivery.
Date
Host
Venue
1 March 2016
AELP
Crowne Plaza (City Centre), Manchester
7 March 2016
157 Group
Rugby Campus, Warwickshire College
10 March 2016
Hospitality House
London N2 8AB
18 March 2016
Leeds College of Building
23 March 2016
City College Plymouth

10. Further support available
Full list of support available at: Other support available at: Main page on Apprenticeship reforms: Published standards and those in development: Have your say on draft EOIs, standards and assessment plans, via the monthly online survey: