The Growth and Skills Levy Products
Apprenticeships
An apprenticeship is a real job that enables individuals to earn while they learn, gaining valuable knowledge, skills and behaviours tailored to a specific job role.
As an employer, hiring an apprentice allows you to invest in the future by bringing in talent that fits your business needs. Apprentices, like any other employees, have a contract with you.
Foundation apprenticeships
Foundation apprenticeships offer:
- Opportunities for young people: they are paid jobs with structured training in an entry level occupation (at Level 2) designed for young people at the start of their career.
- Pathway to progression: these apprenticeships offer a clear progression route, enabling individuals to gain relevant employability skills and experience that can lead to more specific or advanced apprenticeships. This structured pathway supports long-term career development and growth.
The first foundation apprenticeships went live on 1 August 2025 in construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing, digital and health and social care.
The available standards are published on Skills England’s website.
Find out more about eligibility and incentives in the funding rules.
Short courses
We are introducing short courses in England, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy. They will support Industrial Strategy sectors such as digital, advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) and engineering, with starts from April 2026.
We will work with Skills England to determine the courses which will be prioritised in the first wave of rollout and subsequent waves, and how those sit alongside apprenticeships and training routes.
We will also work with Skills England to introduce these short courses and consider how to prioritise investment across the programme.
More information on short courses will be published later this year.
Flexibilities the Growth and Skills Levy offers
English and maths requirements
All new and existing adult apprentices, who are aged 19 and over at the start of their apprenticeship training, are no longer required to hold or achieve English and maths qualifications to pass their apprenticeship.
Instead, apprentices will demonstrate their English and maths skills by using them in real work tasks as part of their apprenticeship.
Apprentices who are aged 16 to 18 at the start of their training, are still required to achieve English and maths qualifications to support their career progression.
Funding will continue to be available for English and maths qualifications for all apprentices, including those aged 19 and over, where the employer agrees this should be part of their apprenticeship.
Minimum duration
From 1 August 2025, the minimum duration of an apprenticeship has been reduced to 8 months.
This change means apprentices will be able to achieve occupational competence more quickly where that makes sense, for example, because they have significant prior learning or to better align training with the industry.
All sectors will be able to make use of this new flexibility where it is appropriate for the role or the apprentice.
Working with Skills England and industry innovators, we are changing the typical duration of some standards to below 12 months, to reflect where competence will normally be delivered more quickly in future.
Find out which apprenticeships will have a shorter duration.
Other changes
Assessment model changes
The assessment process is being streamlined to enable more design and delivery flexibility so that:
- assessments are more proportionate to the competency being tested and removes any duplication
- assessment plans can be designed to allow assessments to take place on the programme
- training providers will be able to deliver elements of the assessment, end-point Assessment Organisations (EPAOs) will continue to shape the assessment and ensure the validity of outcomes
These changes will apply to all apprenticeships, at all levels. Existing assessment plans are being rewritten on a standard-by-standard basis to reflect these changes, with foundation apprenticeships already having been developed in line with the new assessment plans.
Further details on implementation, including which assessment plans will be revised and when, will follow later this year.
Level 7 apprenticeships
The government is refocusing investment towards young people at the start of their working lives, rather than those already in work with higher levels of prior learning and qualifications.
From 1 January 2026:
- Only level 7 apprenticeships for young people aged 16-21, and under 25 for care leavers and those with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) at the start of their apprenticeship will be eligible for government funding. Those aged 22 and over will not be eligible.
- Any apprentice who started a level 7 apprenticeship before 1 January 2026 will continue to be funded through to completion.