Learning and Skills Mentor loses funding from September 2026
New starts on this standard can no longer be funded. Apprentices already on programme are unaffected.
Learning and Skills Mentor at Level 4 is one of sixteen apprenticeship standards that lost funding for new starts on 1 September 2026.
What changesgovernment funding is withdrawn for new starts. Apprentices already on programme are unaffected and remain funded through to completion.
The cut-off has passed. Apprentices who started on or before 31 August 2026 remain funded through to completion, including their end-point assessment, and nothing about their programme changes. What is closed is new starts: anyone beginning from 1 September 2026 cannot be funded on this standard, whatever stage the paperwork had reached.
The reason given is budget pressure combined with a policy shift towards younger apprentices. Skills England has noted the offer grew beyond 700 standards while starts among 16 to 24 year olds fell around 40% over a decade, with growth concentrated in older, higher-level and more expensive provision.
What to do about itif you deliver this standard, decide now whether learners can move to an adjacent standard in the Education and early years route, whether apprenticeship units can cover the same capability, or whether development here moves outside the levy entirely. If you are an employer using it as a pipeline, you need that answer before the cut-off.