Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting the age limit for funding of level 7 apprenticeships at 22 years old.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Apprenticeship starts by young people under 25 fell by almost 40% over the last decade.

From January 2026, the government will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22, or those aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care. This will enable apprenticeship opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people and create more opportunities for those entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get on in their careers.

This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England did not find a strong enough economic rationale to exempt any level 7 apprenticeship standards from defunding. While level 7 apprenticeships can be a valuable route for some disadvantaged learners, a significant proportion are from non-deprived backgrounds and are significantly less likely to be deprived than apprentices at lower levels.

Level 7 generally has a higher proportion of older learners than other apprenticeships, particularly the senior leader apprenticeship (where 99% are over 25) and standards with an embedded postgraduate qualification. Skills England also suggested that de-funding would be unlikely to lead to a significant fall in the supply of these skills in the long term.