Accountability thresholds that “unfairly penalised” larger training providers have been replaced in an update to the apprenticeship accountability framework, as the DfE has recently published changes to four of the ten intervention thresholds that it monitors to “drive-up quality” of apprenticeships recently. Previously, training providers would be identified as ‘needs improvement’ if more than 250 apprentices withdrew, past their planned end dates or were on a break in learning however the new update replaces each 250 threshold with a percentage of the total number of apprentices at a training provider. For example, under the latest framework, a training provider would be ‘at risk’ if more than 20 per cent of their total number of apprentices withdraw, down from 35 per cent. If 15-20 per cent of a provider’s apprentices withdraw, they will be considered as ‘needs improvement,’ down from 15-35 per cent. A provider will now be ‘at risk’ if 10 per cent of their apprentices are on a break in learning for over a year. The previous threshold was 15 per cent. Click here for more.
