As the initial delivery window of our Apprenticeships Work campaign winds down, we’ve been reflecting on what the campaign has achieved over the past twelve months. We’ve brought together over 90 organisations as partners on a mission: to encourage more small employers to take on apprentices. We launched Apprenticeships Work in September 2025 in response to the shocking decline in apprenticeship provision by small employers, who represent 99.8% of businesses and 60% of total employment in the UK, but only employ 37% of apprentices. The campaign emerged from two Edge Foundation reports, Chaos to Co-ordination and Agents of Change, which outlined the case for creating a ‘one-stop’ apprenticeship application system and for supporting SMEs through apprenticeship brokerage services and tailored advice.
Within the first few months, we gathered together policymakers and campaign partners at a Parliamentary roundtable and co-ordinated an open letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary outlining our policy asks for government. An early policy success arrived in the form of the 2025 Autumn Budget measure to fully fund all apprenticeships for under-25s at non-levy paying employers. Our open letter also called on the government to review and expand financial incentives for SMEs. So we welcomed the government’s announcement in March 2026 that the incentive for non-levy paying employers hiring a young apprentice would be doubled to £2,000, in addition to a new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for all employers.
Another key ask was to establish a locally delivered, nationally co-ordinated system of apprenticeship brokerage, as set out in Agents of Change. The government has since committed £240m to fund apprenticeship brokerage across all 14 mayoral areas between January 2027 and April 2029, including an additional £100m at the Autumn Budget 2026. Nonetheless, we have continued to make a case for funding brokerage in non-mayoral areas, including through a joint open letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary earlier this year.
Between April and July 2026, Edge Foundation worked with Amazing Apprenticeships to deliver Small Business Summer, the natural next step for Apprenticeships Work. It helped over 50,000 young people in years 7 to 13 across 500 schools and colleges to find out about small businesses in their local community and understand the huge benefits of being an apprentice in a smaller organisation. Through webinars and practical step-by-step guides, Small Business Summer also helped hundreds of small employers to explore how they can connect with local talent and take the next step towards offering an apprenticeship. The campaign won the endorsement of Baroness Jacqui Smith, Minister for Skills. We celebrated the anniversary of Apprenticeships Work at a Parliamentary Reception in October 2026, where we heard from inspiring speakers including the Minister for Small Business and Enterprise, Lord Sonny Leong. We were very pleased to have all our campaign partners together in one room and to be able to thank them in person.
The success of Apprenticeships Work boils down to the power of a diverse range of organisations uniting behind a shared message. Thank you to everyone who supported the campaign, by contributing supporting stories, sharing our resources, or amplifying our message as a partner. We’ve shown that together, we can make apprenticeships work.
Written by
James Gordon, Senior Policy Advisor, Edge Foundation.
