The ESFA has made an announcement today about the future plans for the Apprenticeship Service beyond April 2019. On the face of it the decision to delay the introduction of the Apprenticeship Service for non-levy paying employers for another year until April 2020 seems sensible. Arguably, smaller employers are not ready for the admin and process burden that the Apprenticeship Service would bring, so there would probably be a risk of choking off demand from smaller businesses from an April 2019 introduction. It I also encouraging that those providers that have got a non-levy contract will be able to extend these.
The unfortunate aspect of the announcement is that we understand that the ESFA has decided not to offer the opportunity for providers that were unsuccessful in this year’s non-levy procurement round to have access to the non-levy market in April 2019. The only options for these providers are to look for subcontracted arrangements or to try to arrange for non-levy paying employers to utilize a levy transfer. SCTP is in discussions with the ESFA, AELP and those providers affected and in contact with the LEPs and Local Authorities across Sussex. AELP is hopeful that there will be further clarity and better news from the ESFA next week. Comment from FE Week is here.