From levy to launchpad: Reviewing the 2025 apprenticeship reforms and the road ahead

National Apprenticeship Week is a good opportunity to review the progress made from last year's reforms and look ahead to further changes.

The apprenticeship reforms introduced in 2025 were a genuinely positive step forward.

Removing the mandatory maths and English exit requirements for over-19s has already helped expand access, particularly for experienced workers who want to upskill or retrain without revisiting the barriers of their school years.

Reducing the minimum duration to eight months has also made apprenticeships more flexible, especially for the HGV driver standard, where, for most learners, 12 months of training was not necessary.

The announcement to speed up the process to update standards made by government on the eve of National Apprenticeship Week, is welcomed. The heavy vehicle technician standards are still awaiting approval more than two years after starting the updating process – meanwhile technology keeps moving on.

Since the levy was introduced, SMEs have struggled to engage, and it should be made easier to create opportunities for young people starting their first jobs. Apprenticeships should be the resolution to the growing NEETs crisis. There is a real opportunity for foundation apprenticeships to provide that stepping stone, but there’s still work to be done to make them valuable for employers and learners alike.

National Apprenticeship Week is about celebrating success, but with the NEET (not in employment, education, or training) numbers growing, we can’t let the opportunity pass to improve the system for all.