Apprenticeship funding guides

Standing answers to the questions that come up most: what the rules require, what compliance actually means, what an audit looks at, and who can be funded.

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Apprenticeship funding rules 2026 to 2027

What changed in the 2026/27 apprenticeship funding rules, what it means for employers and training providers, and where each requirement sits in the guidance.

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Apprenticeship funding compliance

What funding compliance actually requires in 2026/27, where providers and employers most often fall short, and how to check your position before an auditor does.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship funding compliance checklist

A practical checklist covering eligibility, evidence, off-the-job training, prior learning and the funding claim, with what an auditor looks for at each point.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship funding audit

How a funding audit works, what auditors sample and ask for, what triggers a review, and what happens when evidence cannot be produced.

Checked September 2026

Preparing for an apprenticeship funding audit

What to gather before a funding audit, how to sample your own files first, and the gaps worth closing while there is still time to close them.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship funding evidence requirements

The evidence that must exist for every apprentice, when it has to be collected, what auditors accept, and the records that get rejected at audit.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship funding eligibility

Who can be funded for an apprenticeship in 2026/27: residency, age, employment, prior qualifications, and the changes that closed routes this year.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship funding rules for employers

What the 2026/27 rules require of employers: the agreement, time to train, wages, evidence you must hold, and what changed with the Growth and Skills Levy.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship funding rules for training providers

What providers must do under the 2026/27 rules: eligibility checks, training plans, off-the-job records, subcontracting, and the claim itself.

Checked September 2026

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.

Checked September 2026

Subcontracting under the apprenticeship funding rules

What the rules require when delivery is subcontracted: declaration, oversight, funding flow, and why undeclared arrangements are treated so seriously.

Checked September 2026

Apprenticeship levy funding rules

How the Growth and Skills Levy works in 2026/27: the twelve-month expiry, the removal of the top-up, co-investment, transfers, and what it means for planning.

Checked September 2026

Funding clawback and the errors that cause it

Why apprenticeship funding gets recovered, the errors that cause it most often, how extrapolation multiplies the cost, and what reduces the risk.

Checked September 2026