This week we have been celebrating the achievement of Damar apprentices since we opened our doors 45 years ago on 15 September 1980. We shared the stories of 45 recent apprentices – a tiny fraction of the 20,000 or so students we are proud to have worked with, along with their employers. We have also heard from some who were Damar apprentices several years ago about the difference their apprenticeship has made.
It is 19 years since I joined Damar, and much has changed since then. In 2006, apprenticeships were mostly at levels 2 and 3 (broadly, GCSE and A level standard) and were only for those aged under 25. Now, they are all-age and extend to post-graduate level, although the government will end funding for new starters aged 22+ on the highest-level apprenticeships from 1st January 2026. They are also far more challenging. Long gone is the focus on assessing existing skills – many of our apprentices today study for eight or more hours a week.
45 years is recent history in apprenticeship terms. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote about apprentices in the 1300s and in 1563 the Statute of Artificers created the first national system of apprenticeships. Teaching vocational skills through a blend of on and off-the-job learning is one of the oldest forms of education. It is one that will endure well beyond the horizons of current policy and political careers.
But we are at a pivotal moment for apprenticeships in England. Their importance to the economy was underlined last week with the news that apprenticeship policy is moving to the Department for Work and Pensions from the Department for Education. There is growing impetus for apprenticeships to support economic growth and help bring down the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who not in education, employment or training.
Breaking down barriers to opportunity. Driving growth. Supporting good jobs. These government missions are also reflected in our vision at Damar, which is for every apprentice, every employer that chooses to partner with us and every Damar colleague to reach their potential, regardless of age or background.
The impact of apprenticeships is outsized compared to their cost. There is good data on this, but you only need to read a few of those 45 stories to be reminded of this. I am immensely proud of our team and our external partners, and the focus of each one of them on ensuring that apprenticeships deliver real benefits. I am also proud of the part we have played in developing and delivering apprenticeships in sectors, such as legal services, for so long beset by barriers to entry and progression. And for helping create apprenticeships for roles where there were no apprenticeship options before, such as in data protection or for travel consultants.
But the impact of apprenticeships, in the end, will always be limited by how good the apprenticeship standards are themselves and the policy that underpins them.
Apprenticeships must become more responsive to skills needs
Dario Amodei, CEO of AI business Anthropic, warned recently that artificial intelligence could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next five years.
Even if the number is far fewer, traditional NEET reduction initiatives and current entry-level apprenticeships will barely scratch the surface of this challenge.
Apprenticeships are designed for existing jobs and skills needs. We need to teach the skills needed for the jobs of today, but just as important is that we equip apprentices for jobs that do not yet exist. Future apprenticeships, at all levels, will need to teach skills that AI cannot replace, things like:
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Critical thinking – using the power of the human imagination to develop new solutions to problems
- Values and ethics
- Cultural competence – building trust and understanding across diverse organisations, generations and customers
- Preserving human judgement and insight in the age of AI.
We need to be honest about the fact that much of the detailed knowledge learning within apprenticeships will have to be relearned by apprentices as their jobs change. And that knowledge retention beyond core principles will become less important than the ability to critique the output of an AI ‘brain’ that can remember more than any human.
Today’s apprentices will also need to be far more adaptable and resilient than was the case for my generation.
Lower-level apprenticeships – those generally undertaken by young people in their first or second jobs – need to better address the basic skills gaps that have widened after teenage years spent online and which have been exacerbated for some by Covid. Use of the telephone, building in-person relationships, cross-generational communication skills, the ability to judge real from ‘fake’ news are just a few examples. This foundational learning needs to feed into the areas of teaching listed above.
We have taken steps in this direction at Damar, for example through our partnership with O Shaped in our paralegal apprenticeship, and we will build on this. But delivering economy-wide impact will need changes to apprenticeships themselves.
Employers and apprentices need fewer but broader and more flexible apprenticeships, especially at lower levels. This is especially so for SMEs, where apprenticeship take-up has fallen. Designing apprenticeships based on narrow job roles that exist today but which may not exist in five years’ time or for which demand may fall, is costly and not the right approach. This is borne out by the fact that, of the 714 apprenticeships available in the last academic year, 245 (34%) had fewer than 20 starts.
Economic and social impact, not age or level, should be the deciding factor for funding
All areas of government funding are under pressure, but rationing access to apprenticeships with blanket restrictions by age or level is clumsy. That is why we campaigned against the changes to funding for the level 7 solicitor apprenticeship. Only a fraction of legal professionals work for large, city firms that can pay for trainees’ higher level legal training. And the level 7 age cap from January 2026 means that for many of those who have taken a non-traditional route into the law, were delayed by caring responsibilities or illness, or are working as a paralegal with £60K of student debt but aged 22 or over, the class ceiling will be reinstated and the apprenticeship ladder of opportunity will come to an abrupt end.
There is undoubtedly money to be saved at level 7, most obviously with the senior leader apprenticeship that can only be undertaken by those already well-established in their careers. Possibly too by limiting access to higher-level funding for the largest employers, or by making access conditional on also creating opportunities for youngsters. But it makes no sense to apply rules that apply equally to every sector and every employer, and which discriminate against older workers, particularly at a time when economic inactivity amongst adults is on the rise.
We need to reinvigorate apprenticeship demand by SMEs
SMEs are the birthplace of innovation and growth. We need to do more to simplify access and encourage take-up for smaller businesses. That is why we continue to offer a no-cost apprenticeship recruitment service at Damar and have worked hard to streamline the on-boarding process for employers.
However, it makes no sense for full funding to be available via the apprenticeship levy for large employers, but only 95% for small employers (for apprentices aged 22 and over). Nor should the government rule out more innovative support, such as enhanced tax allowances for smaller employers that invest in young talent.
Our future
As one of the largest truly independent apprenticeship providers, we will stay true to our vision whatever may happen to policy or funding. We will work to ensure that the ladders of opportunity climbed by so many of our 20,000 or so students over the last five decades remain available and are strengthened. We will continue to invest in our fantastic, committed team so that they, in turn, can help organisations invest in their people and deliver organisational, economic and personal growth.
And whilst I am unlikely to witness all of the next 45 years, I look forward to seeing the positive difference the Damar team will continue to make over the decades to come.