Building a new deal for young people: scaling up apprenticeships

With the final report of the Milburn Review of young people and work** due on Tuesday, there will be some big questions of funding, timing and implementation on the table, particularly when it comes to how we better support young people’s health or how we address the imbalance between what is invested in benefits compared to support.

While building a better support system for young people will not be easy, there are some elements that are so proven in driving better outcomes and destinations for young people that the main challenge is how we enable more young people to benefit from them. One of these is apprenticeships, a high-quality, well-evidenced means of successfully transitioning from education to employment.

In his interim report, Alan Milburn discusses at length the extent to which apprenticeships have 'drifted away from young people'. The number of apprenticeship starts among 16–24-year-olds has fallen by 35% since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, while participation among young people from the most deprived areas has declined particularly sharply. While young people’s interest in apprenticeships is higher than ever, opportunities have gradually been narrowing for them.

There are a number of interventions already in the pipeline to change this situation, including reforms to the Growth and Skills Levy aimed at shifting investment closer to younger learners, the funding of 100% training assessment costs for young apprentices and a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant among other financial incentives. Building on these, the Chancellor announced a 'downpayment on Alan Milburn’s work' in the form of an expanded Local Apprenticeship Service in Mayoral Authority areas, with local teams working to match young people with employers and support both.

These interventions are hugely welcome. At our energy academies in Oxfordshire and East Anglia, we currently have around 150 young people undertaking level 3 apprenticeships that will equip them to work as fully-qualified plumbers, heating technicians and electricians. There is no shortage of interest or demand from young people, but small employers often face challenges taking them on – a picture replicated across England. We have long called for a brokerage-type support system for SMEs (see the research we supported the Social Market Foundation to do on this topic in 2024). We look forward to working in partnership with the new Local Apprenticeship Service where it exists to help it achieve the desired impact for both young people and small firms.

Skilled trades apprenticeship routes fill roles with some of the highest future demand for people and skills, according to national body Skills England’s 2035 projections. Plumbers and heating and ventilating installers have the highest projected demand of any occupation in the clean energy sector, followed by electricians. Both are in the top ten priority occupations for the construction sector, while facing high demand from many other economic sectors.

But despite the economic case, there are too many barriers for a young person wanting to train up as a plumber or electrician too - particularly if they have spent time NEET. Currently, only 4% of young people undertaking an apprenticeship were previously NEET. Milburn’s view is that we need to expand pre-apprenticeship support and learning for young people, something we strongly support. Earlier this year, our Oxford Energy Academies delivered a Tools for Tomorrow programme in Witney, supporting young people who had spent time NEET to complete a funded Level 2 plumbing qualification alongside employability support and work experience placements. The programme illustrates how practical training, employer engagement and tailored support can help young people overcome barriers and take their first steps towards a skilled career. Expanding opportunities like these would help more young people access apprenticeships.

There is much to build on, but we need to tackle both sides of the challenge: helping more employers, particularly smaller businesses, to offer apprenticeships, while ensuring young people facing additional barriers receive the support needed to access them. Our experience at Oxford Energy Academies demonstrates what is possible. The opportunity now is to build on this at greater scale, opening up skilled careers to more young people while meeting the workforce needs of the future.