Statutory guidance

Public sector apprenticeship target

Guidance for public bodies in scope of the public sector apprenticeship target.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 7 April 2017
• Last updated: 28 March 2022 — See all updates

This publication was withdrawn on 2 May 2023

The public sector apprenticeship target is no longer statutory. Guidance on the public sector apprenticeships data return is available.

Applies to England

Documents

Meeting the public sector apprenticeship target 2021-22

ODT, 70.7 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Guide list of public sector bodies in scope

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 114 KB

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Guide list of public sector bodies in scope

ODS, 78.5 KB

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Details

Public sector apprenticeships target 1 April 2022 onwards

The public sector apprenticeships target is coming to an end on 31 March 2022. From this date there will no longer be a target set for public sector employers.

Public sector employers who are currently required to report against the public sector apprenticeships target are asked to continue to gather, and later report:

• new apprenticeship starts
• total number of apprentices
• organisational headcount

We will publish this data annually to support transparency and external accountability, and help maintain the momentum public sector employers have built up once the current statutory target ends.

Public sector apprenticeships target 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2022

This statutory guidance applies to most public bodies with 250 or more staff in England.

This includes:

• schools and academy trusts
• local authorities
• central government and arm’s length bodies
• NHS organisations
• the armed forces
• emergency services
• any other body that may be in scope of the target

It outlines how these public bodies should:

• aim to meet the public sector apprenticeship target
• use the data publication and apprenticeship activity return to report their progress towards meeting the target

The list is a guide to the scope of the public sector apprenticeship target and which bodies must follow the target. Due to factors including limitations in the data available, this is not a definitive list for determining the coverage of the target.

Statutory guidance sets out what public bodies must do to comply with the law. You should follow the guidance unless you have a very good reason not to.

Published 7 April 2017
Last updated 28 March 2022 + show all updates

1. 28 March 2022

   Added information about the public sector apprenticeships target from 1 April 2022 onwards. Removed old guidance document for the period 2017 to 2021.

2. 19 March 2021

   Added a new guidance document covering the period 2021 to 2022.

3. 2 September 2020

   Updated' Meeting the public sector apprenticeship target' document to show changes to school and Multi Academy Trust (MAT) reporting data. This was required to provide an annual report from 1 April 2019, subject to meeting headcount criteria.

4. 9 February 2018

   Updated ‘Meeting the public sector apprenticeship target’ and ‘Guide list of public sector bodies in scope’.

5. 21 April 2017

   Added guide list of bodies in scope of public sector apprenticeship target.

6. 7 April 2017

   First published.