UK Apprenticeship Data: Fact vs. Misinformation

Full Fact debunks claims about UK apprenticeship starts, showing data that contradicts Mr. Waugh's statements. The analysis highlights discrepancies in comparing partial and full year data, revealing an overall increase in starts post-2020.

Analyzing Apprenticeship Start Numbers

Mr Thomas’s workplace offered Full Fact with numbers for England that reveal this insurance claim is based on a computation contrasting the variety of apprenticeship begins in the very first 9 months of the 2025/26 university year– which is the latest data currently readily available– with the number in the whole university year of 2023/24.

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Mr Waugh appears to be incorrect about the number of starts under the last government “because 2020”. Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, the number really increased.

Debunking Misleading Claims

Misleading.
This is based on insufficient information for 2025/26 compared with a complete year’s worth of information for 2023/24. Instruction begins in England have actually increased by around 11% if you compare the most recent nine months with the comparable 9 months in 2023/24.

Mr Waugh shows up to be wrong regarding the number of starts under the last government “considering that 2020”. Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, the number really raised. (Although the number for 2020/21 might have been affected by the pandemic).

Inaccurate.
The variety of instruction begins per year in England climbed after 2020/21– although that year may have been affected by the pandemic. Instruction begins did fall substantially in the years prior to 2020.

Historical Trends in Apprenticeships

There was a significant loss in the number of starts in the years before 2020– from around 500,000 annually from 2011 to 2017, to approximately 350,000 a year in the years considering that. This properly turned around a big rise that happened in the early 2010s.

Talking in a debate with the education minister, Paul Waugh MP, Mr Thomas stated: “When contrasting the school year 2025/26 with 2023/24, the variety of individuals that have actually begun apprenticeships has dropped by 9%.”.

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