Apprenticeship programme response to the COVID-19 guidance V5

Source - ESFA

There is new information on which apprentices should be prioritised in the offer of face-to-face training in line with the Prime Minister’s announcement that further education settings can broaden the number of 16-19 learners attending on-site delivery from 15th June. ​

The guidance covers apprentices returning to work and states that remote training should remain the predominant mode of learning for most apprentices​.

There is also greater clarity on apprentices returning to undertake EPA within assessment centres.

For apprentices returning to train in an education setting:

• the number of FE learners attending at any one time is limited to a quarter of those on the first year of a two-year 16-19 study programme​
• apprenticeship training taking place in educational settings should also be prioritised for 16-19 apprentices. We support offering face-to-face contact to any 16-19 apprentice​
• providers can choose to allow apprentices who are over 19 to attend

EPA flexibility for Functional Skills Qualifications (FSQs)

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has put in place a new temporary flexibility that enables apprentices to take EPA ahead of receiving their calculated FSQ results later on in the summer.​

The flexibility enables apprentices, who would otherwise be stuck at gateway pending their FSQ, to pass through gateway and take their EPA. ​

This flexibility, which has immediate effect, applies to:​

• all apprentices due to take an FSQ test and receive a result in the period between 20 March and 31 July​
• those apprentices that are deemed by their training provider to have the required level of functional skills and sufficient evidence to demonstrate this to receive a calculated FSQ pass​
• occupationally competent apprentices at gateway who are ready to progress to sit their EPA​

This temporary measure supports qualifying apprentices to complete their EPA without undue delay.

Apprentices will only achieve their apprenticeship once they have passed EPA and received their FSQ pass.

Training providers will therefore be expected to provide prompt confirmation of the apprentice’s FSQ calculated results to EPAOs once these have been awarded​.