Digital: 18 changes, seven of them standards still in development
Digital moves faster than the standards process, and the register shows the strain.
Eighteen digital standards carry a recorded change, and seven of them are in development or a notice period rather than settled. Data Engineer at Level 5, Applications Support Lead at Level 4, Machine Learning Engineer at Level 6, Information Communications Technician at Level 3, Digital Product Manager at Level 4 and Digital Accessibility Specialist at Level 4 are all mid-revision.
Against that, three new AI Leadership units at Level 5 were approved in April 2026, funded at £750 each, covering AI strategy and opportunity, AI adoption and procurement and governance, and AI delivery and organisational transformation. Artificial Intelligence and Automation Practitioner at Level 4 moved to version 2.1 in December 2025. The Software and Data and Hardware, Network and Infrastructure foundation apprenticeships at Level 2 give an entry route at eight months and £4,000.
What it changed from: the digital route was built around job titles that were stable in the late 2010s. Several of those roles have either split, merged or been absorbed into work that did not exist when the standard was written.
What follows: the units are the interesting development. They let an employer fund a short, specific piece of AI capability from the levy without committing to a full apprenticeship, which suits a workforce that needs updating rather than qualifying. For providers, the volume of standards in revision means curriculum planning on this route should be provisional, check the register at each intake, particularly for Information Communications Technician, which is high volume and carries a notice period.
Every changed standard on this route, 27
Kept current from the register, so it reflects today rather than when this was written.