Critical steps for boosting UK’s apprenticeships offering

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Apprenticeships Publishes New Report and Recommendations for 2025–26

The government must clear the apprenticeship standards backlog and make them more flexible if it is going to make them more widely available an influential APPG has found.

These are among a series of recommendations in a new report released today by The All-Party Group (APPG) on Apprenticeships, which outlines recommendations for ensuring apprenticeship programmes reach their full potential across the UK.

Apprenticeships enjoy their status as a point of consensus across the political divide, with the report today stressing the importance of this cross-party collaboration in helping to drive economic growth and social mobility through skills development.

The APPG sessions have heard from key voices, not just from government, but also from employers and apprentices themselves – informing the Group’s latest set of recommendations to ensure apprenticeships remain central to the UK’s skills strategy.

Key Recommendations for the Government:

1. Ensure an Employer-Led System

   Put employers at the heart of the skills agenda, with Skills England playing a central role in co-designing reforms
   

2. Clear the Apprenticeship Standards Backlog

   Urgently address the significant backlog of apprenticeship standards awaiting review and approval
   

3. Introduce Modular Apprenticeships

   Explore modularised, flexible apprenticeship models to boost access and completion rates while maintaining high standards
   

4. Develop a UCAS-Style System for Apprenticeships

   Create a centralised system to match unsuccessful applicants with apprenticeship vacancies, especially with SMEs
   

5. Increase Transparency Around Levy Spending

   Provide clarity on how Apprenticeships Levy funds are reinvested – restoring employer confidence and public trust
   

6. Support SMEs with a Dedicated Toolkit

   Launch a practical, easy-to-use toolkit for SMEs to help them navigate the recruitment, training, and retention of apprentices

The report also features contributions from a wide range of stakeholders and case studies from organisations including BAE Systems, The Co-operative Group, London South Bank University, and Multiverse, among others.

Please find the full report here.

This report comes after a significant change across the UK skills ecosystem over the past 12 months.

With the incoming Government, came a wide package of reforms designed to support and strengthen the UK’s skills offer. These reforms are vital steps to ensuring that our skills infrastructure is adaptable, works for employers and providers, and is well-suited to the rapidly changing labour market.

Andrew Pakes MP for Peterborough, Co-Chair of the APPG on Apprenticeships said:

“Apprenticeships are at the very forefront of the Government’s growth strategy, as they are not just a tool for skills development, but are the cornerstone of social mobility and long-term prosperity.

“Skills England is now operational, and as a group we are looking forward to engaging with them further, as we move to the implementation phase from September.

“However, to ensure that apprenticeship programmes in the UK reach their full potential, more is still needed to be done.

“The recommendations from the APPG’s report are a step in the right direction towards this. 

Toby Perkins MP for Chesterfield, Co-Chair of the APPG on Apprenticeships said:

“These recommendations are the latest in a series from the Group, as we drive the UK’s towards a skills revolution.

“Building on what has been achieved so far around apprenticeships policy, the recommendations laid out in the report will help propel skills provision throughout the UK.

“Over the last year, we have been hugely encouraged by the level of positive engagement from government, civil servants, MPs and Peers, and apprenticeship providers.

“As we look ahead to next year, our focus will be on ensuring that the Government’s skills programme is implemented effectively, working on a cross-party basis to encourage lively, well-rounded debate on critical aspects of reform.”