_edited.png)
Apprenticeship funding has changed. Your training needs haven't.
From 1 September 2026, government funding ended for 16 apprenticeship standards in England.
Among them are several qualifications that have been widely used by employers to develop existing members of their workforce, including the Level 3 Team Leader, Level 4 Learning and Skills Mentor, Level 3 Learning and Skills Assessor and Level 5 Coaching Professional apprenticeships.
The decision forms part of wider changes to the Growth and Skills Levy, with government funding being redirected towards young people, priority occupations and critical skills gaps.
For employers, though, there is another side to this.
The funding might have disappeared, but the need to develop people hasn't.
Which apprenticeships have lost government funding?
There are 16 apprenticeship standards affected by the change, spanning leadership and management, learning and development, adult care, security, facilities management and other sectors.
For organisations focused on developing their own people, some of the most notable include:
Level 3 Learning and Skills Assessor
Level 3 Team Leader
Level 4 Learning and Skills Mentor
Level 5 Coaching Professional
Level 5 Operations Manager
Level 6 Chartered Manager
Existing apprentices who started before 1 September will continue to receive funding through to completion. The standards themselves have not disappeared either. Employers can still choose to fund them privately.
What has changed is who pays for them.
Government priorities change. Business needs don't.
There are understandable reasons behind changes to public funding. Government has to make decisions about where investment is directed, and the current reforms are intended to put greater emphasis on younger people entering skilled occupations and areas where there are critical skills shortages.
But an employer's training needs aren't determined by which qualifications happen to attract government funding.
Businesses still need people who can lead teams. They still need experienced colleagues who can mentor others.
Training providers still need competent people who understand assessment.
And organisations increasingly need subject matter experts who can transfer their knowledge to the people around them.
Removing funding from a particular apprenticeship doesn't remove any of those needs.
It does, however, mean employers may need to think differently about how they meet them.
An apprenticeship isn't always the only way to develop someone
For a long time, apprenticeships have provided employers with a funded route for developing existing staff as well as bringing new people into occupations.
Where funding is no longer available, simply paying privately for exactly the same programme will be one option. But it isn't the only one.
This is also an opportunity for businesses to look more closely at the skills they actually need.
Someone who regularly supports new starters may need mentoring skills. A subject matter expert who is increasingly responsible for delivering internal training may need teaching and facilitation skills. A manager may need coaching skills without necessarily needing to complete an entire coaching apprenticeship.
That can open the door to shorter accredited qualifications, CPD, bespoke train the trainer programmes, coaching and mentoring development, or a combination of different approaches.
It becomes less about finding a funded programme that roughly fits and more about building training around the actual role.
Developing your own internal trainers
This is particularly relevant to something we talk about a lot at Emblem: helping organisations take greater ownership of their own training. Businesses are full of subject matter experts. They understand their organisation, their processes, their customers and the realities of doing the job better than an external training company ever could.
What they don't necessarily have are the skills to turn that expertise into effective learning.
Knowing your subject and knowing how to teach somebody else are very different things.
That's where developing internal trainers can make a significant difference.
Giving subject matter experts a foundation in learning and development means organisations can start building training capability within their existing teams rather than continually outsourcing every piece of workplace training.
Where the Level 3 AET can fit
One option for people moving into a training role is the Level 3 Award in Education and Training, commonly known as the Level 3 AET.
It is important to be clear that the AET is not a direct replacement for the Learning and Skills Mentor, Learning and Skills Assessor, Coaching Professional or Team Leader apprenticeships. They have different purposes, content and outcomes.
What the AET can provide is a recognised foundation in teaching and training.
It covers areas including understanding the roles and responsibilities of a trainer, inclusive teaching and learning, planning learning, using appropriate resources and assessing learners.
For a business trying to develop subject matter experts into confident workplace trainers, that can provide a strong starting point.
From there, additional development can be added depending on what somebody actually needs to do. That might include coaching and mentoring skills, assessment qualifications, specialist CPD or bespoke training linked directly to the organisation.
Rather than expecting one programme to cover everything, employers can build the combination that makes sense for their people.
Building training around your business
Changes like this are also a useful reminder of the risk of allowing funding to dictate an organisation's learning and development strategy. Funding is valuable. When appropriate support is available, businesses should absolutely make use of it.
But the starting point should still be the skills the organisation needs.
Identify the people who hold important knowledge. Look at where that knowledge needs to be transferred. Understand the skills gaps within teams and decide which capabilities are worth developing internally.
Then find the right training route.
Sometimes that will still be an apprenticeship. Sometimes it will be an accredited qualification such as the Level 3 Award in Education and Training. Sometimes a short train the trainer course, coaching programme or bespoke piece of learning will make far more sense.
Government funding will continue to change. The need to develop capable people won't.
Developing internal training capability with Emblem
At Emblem Training Solutions, we help organisations develop the people, programmes and learning resources they need to take greater ownership of workplace training.
Our Level 3 Award in Education and Training provides a recognised route for developing internal trainers, with interactive eLearning, live online workshops and expert tutor support.
We can also support organisations with bespoke train the trainer programmes, learning design and the development of internal training resources.
Comments