Apprenticeships up 5% but access for young people remains a challenge

The Department for Education (DfE) has published new data on apprenticeships in England.

Becca Gooch, Head of Research at EngineeringUK, who has been analysing the data, commented:

“We are pleased to see that engineering and technology apprenticeship starts have increased by 5%. This comes at a time when we urgently need more people entering careers in the sector. Skills England has identified that the engineering, construction and digital technologies sectors will experience some of the largest increases in job demand between now and 2030.

“Boosting apprenticeship starts among underrepresented groups is crucial to building a more resilient workforce. We are therefore pleased to see that more women are starting engineering and technology apprenticeships. 20% of all apprenticeship starts in the sector in 2024/25 were by women, up from 17% in 2023/24. However, while a step in the right direction, this still represents a significant gender imbalance. EngineeringUK and partners in the Gender pathways collective continue to look across the education and employment systems to identify, build and advocate for solutions that can accelerate progress.

“After recent long-term decline in level 2 engineering and technology apprenticeship starts, it is encouraging that they have remained broadly stable this year. However, as starts among under-19s have declined overall and growth is concentrated in the 25+ age group, this raises concerns about access to these routes for young people.

“The government introduced foundation apprenticeships to boost paid entry routes for young people. None of these started in the 2024/25 academic year, so are not covered by today’s data release. However, it may be a steep hill to climb to achieve the government’s expectation of 30,000 young people starting a foundation apprenticeship before the end of this Parliament (by 2029).

“We explored some of the issues that government must tackle to ensure that foundation apprenticeships are successful in our recent report on this topic. We urge government to keep engaging with industry representatives and employers, to maximise apprenticeship opportunities for young people starting their career at level 2.”

Read EngineeringUK’s full data analysis here