The government recently conducted a consultation engaging employers and training providers on their concerns about apprenticeship funding. The changes proposed during the consultation have resulted in a big shake-up of apprenticeship funding band rules.
There were loads of small tweaks to the funding rules that might pique the interest of employers and training providers, such as the £1,000 apprenticeship bursary for care leavers and new support for training providers training apprentices with mental health issues and other special considerations. But by far the biggest change resulting from the consultation was a doubling of the number funding bands from 15 to 30. The new funding band table is as follows:
| Funding Band | Upper Limit |
| 1 | £1,500 |
| 2 | £2,000 |
| 3 | £2,500 |
| 4 | £3,000 |
| 5 | £3,500 |
| 6 | £4,000 |
| 7 | £4,500 |
| 8 | £5,000 |
| 9 | £6,000 |
| 10 | £7,000 |
| 11 | £8,000 |
| 12 | £9,000 |
| 13 | £10,000 |
| 14 | £11,000 |
| 15 | £12,000 |
| 16 | £13,000 |
| 17 | £14,000 |
| 18 | £15,000 |
| 19 | £16,000 |
| 20 | £17,000 |
| 21 | £18,000 |
| 22 | £19,000 |
| 23 | £20,000 |
| 24 | £21,000 |
| 25 | £22,000 |
| 26 | £23,000 |
| 27 | £24,000 |
| 28 | £25,000 |
| 29 | £26,000 |
| 30 | £27,000 |
Quite a doozy, isn’t it? Well, don’t be intimated. Here’s what you really need to know:
- The new funding bands take effect on 1 August 2018.
- New standards will be incorporated into the new 30 band structure.
- Existing standards will be placed in the new funding band structure at the same level.
When setting up an apprenticeship programme, employers are expected to negotiate prices with training providers and end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs). According to the consultation, employers felt they could not effectively negotiate prices with training providers with the current funding band model. There seemed to be a general impression that funding band caps were the ‘rate’ set by the government. Introducing more funding bands will allow for more varied and flexible negotiations between employers, training providers and EPAOs.
Any and all contracts between TQUK EPA, training providers and employers under the old funding rules will remain in place.
TQUK EPA continues to offer the most competitively priced end-point assessment service on the market. With the new funding bands comes a new opportunity for employers to maximise value for money. We relish the opportunity to show how we can bring costs down, raise quality up and establish prices that work for everyone.
TQUK EPA will be updating our website in due course to reflect the new changes. For more information on TQUK EPA’s individual standards, visit our Sectors page or click on one of our approved standards below.
Senior Healthcare Support Worker
Healthcare Assistant Practitioner
Operations/Departmental Manager
If you have any questions, you can call TQUK EPA at 03333 583 344 or send an email to epa@tquk.org.
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