The new government target to have two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning by age 25 is a welcome improvement on the previous target of 50% in university. This new approach, outlined by Sir Keir Starmer today in his speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, recognises a broader range of study programmes open to young people, including higher technical qualifications and apprenticeships, moving beyond the unhelpful academic/vocational divide. However, delivering these apprenticeships will require a real funding commitment. The apprenticeship budget was overspent for the first time this year, while incoming flexibilities to the Growth and Skills Levy in April 2026 will put further strain on the funding pot (as explored in our Flex without Compromise report). With the £800m funding package coming from the existing spending review settlement, serious decisions will need to be made about the design of the levy if this is to be a success.
Beyond funding, we also need to make sure that apprenticeship opportunities are there too. Edge’s research with King’s College London found that only 1 in 4 year 13 students who applied for an apprenticeship was successful. To address this, we need to signpost these opportunities better (see our Chaos to Coordination report) and engage more SMEs (see our Agents of Change report and our new Apprenticeships Work campaign).The decision to place all Level 4-6 courses in HE and FE under a single funding and regulatory model (under the Office for Students) is also a welcome step towards making the system more coherent.
Challenges will remain in how to effectively govern a sector with a scarcity of high resources. Our new report, Tertiary pathways in practice, considers whether current regulatory approaches are the most appropriate to enable the system as a whole to efficiently achieve regional and national priorities