Off-the-job training: the funding rules
How off-the-job training works since the 2025 change to published minimum hours per standard, what counts, what does not, and the 187-hour floor.
The rule changed and many have missed it
For apprentices starting on or after 1 August 2025, off-the-job training is no longer six hours a week. Each standard has its own published minimum number of hours for the whole apprenticeship, and you cannot calculate it from the duration.
The range is wide. Business Administrator is 348 hours. Engineering Technician is 974. A provider still applying six hours a week is not slightly out on some standards; they are hundreds of hours short, on every apprentice in the cohort.
The floor
Recognised prior learning reduces the requirement, but never below 187 hours. A programme planned below that figure is non-compliant regardless of how much prior learning the apprentice brings.
What counts
Training that teaches new knowledge, skills or behaviours related to the apprenticeship, delivered within paid working hours. Teaching, practical training, shadowing structured for learning, mentoring, industry visits, and time spent writing assignments all count.
What does not count: English and maths up to Level 2, training outside paid hours, progress reviews, on-programme assessment, and ordinary work that happens to be useful.
Recording it
Record it as it happens, against the published minimum for that specific standard, with enough description that someone else can see what was taught. Running totals with no detail are the most common finding in this area.
Common questions
Is off-the-job training still 20 per cent?
No. The 20 per cent rule was replaced by six hours a week, which was itself replaced by published minimum hours per standard for starts from August 2025.
Can off-the-job training happen outside working hours?
It only counts towards the minimum if it is within paid working hours. Training in the apprentice's own time can happen but cannot be claimed.
What is the minimum number of off-the-job hours?
It depends on the standard, and each has a published figure. No apprenticeship can go below 187 hours whatever prior learning applies.
Track this yourself
Skills Radar follows every change to the funding rules, the standards register and T-Levels, with what changed, what it changed from, and what follows. Free to read.