Update: issue 384 (20 December 2017)
Updated 20 December 2017
Applies to England
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Christmas and new year
This will be the last edition of Update this year. The next edition will be on 03 January 2018. Season’s greetings to those celebrating the festive and new year period.
1. Non-levy apprenticeship procurement
Information
We said in the notification of award decision letters that we would begin entering into contracts from 19 December. We are pleased to confirm that we will start the process of issuing contracts from tomorrow.
DfE have published more information on the overall procurement outcomes on GOV.UK today.
2. Transferring levy funds to another employer
Information
From April 2018, we plan to allow levy-paying employers to transfer up to 10% of their levy funds to other employers using the apprenticeship service.
They will be able to transfer funds to any employer and will have to agree the apprenticeships that are being funded by a transfer with the employer receiving funds. Employers receiving transferred funds will only be able to use them to pay for training and assessment for apprenticeship standards.
For more information, visit the apprenticeship funding: how it will work page on GOV.UK. We will provide further details about the transfer process in early 2018.
3 Withdrawal of frameworks by Issuing Authority
Information
The Issuing Authority, Skills for Care, announced in April 2017 that they planned to withdraw the Care Leadership and Management framework (code 584). The withdrawal date for new starts on this apprenticeship has now been deferred to 31 August 2018 due to the replacement standard for Leader in Adult Care not yet being available.
The Health and Social care framework (code 444) will still be withdrawn to new starts on the 29 December.
These frameworks are being replaced with these standards:
- Adult Care Worker (equates to level 2)
- Lead Adult Care Worker (level 3)
- Lead Practitioner in Adult Care (level 4)
- Leader in Adult Care (level 5)
- Healthcare Support Worker (Level 2)
- Senior Healthcare Support Worker (Level 3) includes named options for Adult Nursing Support, Mental Healthcare Support, Children & Young People Support, Allied Health Profession Therapy Support, Maternity Support and Theatre Support
Any apprentices starting on the Health and Social Care or Care Leadership and Management frameworks before their withdrawal dates will be able to continue on the framework until completion and successful apprentices will be able to claim their certificate using the current system.
4 Technical consultation on insolvency regime for further education and sixth form colleges launched
Information
The Department for Education has launched a consultation on the insolvency regime for further education and sixth form colleges.
This consultation seeks views on the technical detail of the insolvency regime and sets out proposals as to how colleges at risk of or in insolvency will be dealt with in practice. Such cases of insolvency are expected to be rare, and the consultation also outlines plans to further improve the monitoring and support available to colleges where they are in financial difficulty.
The consultation will run until 12 February 2018.