The IfATE's funding recommendation approach consultation – Law Society response

The proposals

The Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education (IfATE) is running a series of consultations and a pilot to look at how the funding of apprentices could be modified.

It released a second consultation, building on initial ideas, to clarify how this could work. It proposes a ‘variable rate’ to reflect the different costs of courses.

This response also incorporates our response to its original scoping consultation.

Our view

While we welcome the current and ongoing planned work on this, we believe that the proposals could risk leading to a lower estimate of how much apprentice courses could cost.

Changes to funding will also need to reflect the major ongoing and future changes to the economy and (re)training ahead, which currently are not covered.

What this means for solicitors 

The proposals will need to go through further stages before they are finalised, so there are no current impacts on members.

Next steps

We will continue to engage with the IfATE and our usual partners as further proposals are developed.