Providers will be asked to log apprentices’ off-the-job training hours to prove that the minimum funding requirement is being met, the government has revealed. A new data field for individual learner records (ILR) – which is to be updated monthly – is designed to “help” providers “demonstrate compliance” with the requirement for at least 20 per cent of apprentices’ time to be spent training away from work. It will not be introduced until 2018/19 and is described in new ILR guidance as “optional”. But the Association of Employment and Learning Providers believes that it goes against previous assurances over how the rule, which is unpopular with many employers, will be enforced. Click here for more.
