Academies missing apprenticeship recruitment targets

Only seven per cent of academy trusts and large academies met the recruitment target for apprenticeships in the first year since it came into force, according to DfE data.

The public sector apprenticeship target came into force for schools last March and requires all individual institutions and trusts with more than 250 employees to recruit 2.3 per cent of their workforce as apprentices every year.

Academies managed an average score of 0.9 per cent in the 2018-19 financial year.

Of the 271 schools and academy trusts included in the data, just 18 hired more than 2.3 per cent of their employees as apprentices during the year. What's more, 37 schools or trusts did not have a single employee whose apprenticeship agreement began in that period.

But academies won’t yet be held to account for their performance against the target; the government will judge organisations on their hiring record over the four years to March 31 2021.