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There is now “widespread acceptance” in government that the target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020 will be missed and the budget underspent, the Department for Education has admitted.
In an annual progress report on the UK’s major projects, the government revealed that the target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020 had been dropped and replaced with an aim for “the highest number of quality starts possible”.
In the report for the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, the Department for Education said its apprenticeship programme would be rolled out to non-levy payers next year, rather than this year as originally planned. The apprenticeship levy is a 0.5 per cent tax on larger employers that is used to fund apprenticeships.