Major change to apprenticeships as government vows to ‘back the next generation’
Ministers have pledged to “back the next generation” by investing in tens of thousands of new apprenticeships and training opportunities.
The government has promised to create 120,000 new training routes for construction workers, engineers, healthcare staff and other trades in England before the next general election.
This is part of a wider effort to increase British workers’ skills and cut net migration in the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer’s training hike will include an extra 30,000 apprenticeships in the next four years, with a budget of more than £3bn in the current financial year.
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Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour is investing in a “shared, stronger economic future” through Britain’s young people.
Bridget Phillipson. Pic: PA
She said: “A skilled workforce is the key to steering the economy forward, and today we’re backing the next generation by giving young people more opportunities to learn a trade, earn a wage and achieve and thrive.
“But everyone has a role to play in a thriving economy, and we’re taking our responsibility seriously providing more routes into employment, it’s now the responsibility of young people to take them.”
From January 2026, funding will be shifted away from masters-level apprenticeships to focus on training at lower levels, although support will be maintained for those aged 16-21 and existing apprentices.
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Neil O’Brien, the shadow education minister, has criticised this move, saying the “decision to scrap higher apprenticeships will do damage to the public services, particularly the NHS”.
He added: “It will make it impossible for many young people who don’t go to university to enter the professions. Numerous employers and professional bodies have warned about the damage scrapping higher apprenticeships will do, which is why this is being snuck out during recess.
“Bridget Phillipson’s decision to axe almost all higher apprenticeships is compounding the damage done by increasing national insurance which is already increasing youth unemployment.”
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The immigration White Paper published earlier this month set out plans to hike the immigration skills charge by 32% to “upskill the domestic workforce and reduce reliance on migration”.
Up to 45,000 of the government’s new training places will be funded by this change.
Sarah Yong, director of policy and public affairs at the Youth Futures Foundation said: “International evidence shows apprenticeships are a highly impactful way to support young people to prepare for and access jobs, yet participation among under-25s, especially the most marginalised, has declined in recent years.
“With stubbornly high youth unemployment and inactivity, rebalancing the apprenticeship system can encourage investment in youth apprenticeships and is a first step in enabling more young people to access good work.”
Meanwhile, the Law Society urged the government to continue to fund masters-level apprenticeships for those aged over 21.
They claimed that apprenticeships “play a vital role in promoting social mobility” in the UK.
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The government has vowed to push for a “major new crackdown” on people smuggling gangs with a £100m cash boost for border security.
The investment will support the pilot of the new “one in, one out” returns agreement between the UK and France, and other efforts to crack down on small boat crossings.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said this new funding will “strengthen” the government’s “serious and comprehensive plan” to dismantle the business model of criminal gangs smuggling migrants across the Channel.
But the Conservatives have claimed the cash injection will make “no real difference”, with shadow home secretary Chris Philp branding the move a Labour “gimmick” and a “desperate grab for headlines”.
The funding will pay for up to 300 new National Crime Agency (NCA) officials, “state-of-the art” detection technology and new equipment to “smash the networks putting lives at risk in the Channel”, ministers say.
It will also allow the Border Security Command, the NCA, the police and other law enforcement agency partners to “strengthen investigations targeting smuggling kingpins and disrupt their operations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond”.
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The new investment comes as official figures show more than 25,000 people have arrived on small boats so far in 2025 – a record for this point in the year.
Ms Cooper said: “In the last 12 months, we have set the foundations for this new and much stronger law enforcement approach – establishing the new Border Security Command, strengthening the National Crime Agency and UK police operations, increasing Immigration Enforcement, introducing new counter terror style powers in our Border Security Bill, and establishing cooperation agreements with Europol and other countries.
“Now this additional funding will strengthen every aspect of our plan, and will turbo-charge the ability of our law enforcement agencies to track the gangs and bring them down, working with our partners overseas, and using state-of-the-art technology and equipment.
“Alongside our new agreements with France, this will help us drive forward our Plan for Change commitments to protect the UK’s border security and restore order to our immigration system.”
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The £100m investment will also support new powers to be introduced when the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill becomes law, the Home Office said.
This includes the introduction of a UK-wide offence to criminalise the creation and publication of online material that promotes a breach of immigration law, such as the advertisement of small boat crossings on social media.
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Research suggests about 80% of migrants arriving to the UK by small boat used internet platforms during their journey – including to contact agents linked to smuggling gangs.
While it is already illegal to assist illegal immigration, ministers hope the creation of a new offence will give police more powers and disrupt business models.
Mr Philp accused the Labour government of having “no serious plan, just excuses, while ruthless criminal gangs flood our borders with illegal immigrants”.
He said: “The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges.”
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