3/17/2026

The Government has unveiled a major employment drive aimed at creating 200,000 jobs and apprenticeships for young people, including a new Youth Jobs Grant.

2/13/2026

Facing rising demand and tighter budgets, Sheffield City Council is upskilling its workforce through a Data Academy delivered by Multiverse. LocalGov reports.

1/8/2026

Partnerships can help councils fill critical skills gaps and grow the labour market by boosting apprenticeship starts, according to leading training provider.

9/25/2025

Thirty-three organisations across planning, housing, nature, and energy are urging the Government to provide £7m to recruit and train apprentice planners.

5/24/2024

Sara Jenner-Akehurst from Cambridgeshire County Council has been named as the 2024 Local Government Apprentice of the Year.

2/5/2024

Nichola Hay MBE, director of Apprenticeship Strategy and Policy at BPP, discusses the importance of a national strategy with a regional approach.

1/10/2024

The Government today announced new measures to improve the career prospects of social care staff but concerns remain that this ‘may only scratch the surface’.

10/9/2023

London Councils has named securing devolution of the apprenticeship levy to its boroughs to fund skills and employment activity as a key short-term priority.

9/4/2023

County council leaders have urged the Government to ‘fast track’ devolution deals to help boost the number of people taking part in adult education.

6/29/2023

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has announced plans to create 300 apprenticeships in the region through a new Apprenticeship Hub.

11/28/2022

Thousands of people who have taken up apprenticeships to help them develop new skills have dropped out due to the poor quality of schemes, research reveals.

9/22/2022

Council leaders have welcomed a call to move away from the top-down approach to skills, and to provide communities with the funding needed to boost employment.

4/14/2022

The Liverpool City Region has adopted a new social value tool to help tackle the city region’s social, economic and environmental challenges.

2/9/2022

With figures showing councils are yet to spend over £100m of the Apprenticeship Levy, why are so many reluctant to utilise this money? William Eichler investigates.

10/26/2021

A £30m programme to provide thousands of people access to skills opportunities across South West Wales has been approved by the UK Government and Welsh Government.

8/20/2021

Councils have called for financial incentives in place to help employers create apprenticeship programmes to be extended beyond the end of the furlough scheme.

8/3/2021

Anyone looking to get experience and training to work in adult social care will now be able benefit from new flexible apprenticeships, the Government says.

7/9/2021

The Government has been urged to make urgent reforms to the apprenticeship levy by a coalition by local government and major employers in London.

3/3/2021

The chancellor has extended the furlough scheme and announced further funding for apprenticeships in a bid to soften the impact of COVID-19 on jobs.

3/3/2021

Rishi Sunak’s Budget is expected to provide a lifeline for workers as the furlough scheme is extended to September while the universal credit £20 uplift could also be prolonged for six months.

3/2/2021

Environmental campaigners have called for the creation of 250,000 ‘green apprenticeships’ in areas such as renewable energy as part of the effort to address the twin crises of youth unemployment and climate change.

12/2/2020

’Flaws’ in the apprenticeship levy are stopping councils from making use of the funds, London Councils has warned today.

10/22/2020

Seven councils have made the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2020 list.

8/28/2020

Councils in London have met their target of recruiting 100 digital apprentices by September 2020.

8/18/2020

Local authorities in London have this year increased the number of apprenticeships created directly by boroughs by 14%, according to new data released by London Councils.

8/11/2020

Jose Lopes outlines a strategic approach to apprenticeships and how the West Midlands’ strong track record and methodology is the perfect vehicle with which to pioneer and boost apprenticeships on a national scale.

7/8/2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £2bn ‘kickstart scheme’ for jobs to prevent an entire generation of young people being ‘left behind’.

7/8/2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced the next phase of his plan to ‘protect, support and retain’ jobs in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

1/20/2020

A multi-million pound investment strategy that will see the delivery of 2,000 new homes is set to be approved by Oldham Council.

6/5/2019

Lizzy Grayson discusses how the apprenticeship levy has changed post-deadline for spending .

5/22/2019

Local government leaders have backed sharp criticism by MPs of the current apprenticeship system.

3/25/2019

Joanna Rawles explains how the new Social Worker Degree Apprenticeship will help councils attract and retain social workers.

10/9/2018

Business leaders have urged the Government to reform the Apprenticeship Levy in order to help solve some of the economy’s challenges ahead of Brexit.

7/19/2018

London’s business leaders have called for a ‘radical overhaul’ of the Apprenticeship Levy and warned changes need to be made to skills provision.

7/18/2018

Cornwall Council explains how it has re-evaluated its approach to apprenticeships, setting an ambitious target of 500 by 2021.

7/17/2018

Councils have called for more powers to help address the skills shortage as report shows nearly all jobs will soon be closed to people without qualifications.

5/18/2018

Care leavers who choose to start an apprenticeship are to receive a £1,000 bursary to help the transition into the workplace, the Government announced yesterday.

3/2/2018

The Apprenticeship Levy needs to see ‘significant changes’, council chiefs warn as the number of people starting apprenticeships drops dramatically.

1/11/2018

Councils should be allowed to spend the money returned from the Apprenticeship Levy beyond the two-year deadline, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

8/23/2017

London authorities have called on Whitehall to allow employers to transfer more than the planned 10% of their apprenticeship levy funding to supply chains.

8/15/2017

The UK’s largest provider of adult training and apprenticeships has been described as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, sparking speculation about the company’s future.

3/31/2017

Whitehall’s flagship apprenticeship policies will not fill the growing skills gap which is set to widen post-Brexit, MPs say.

2/1/2017

The Government has been urged to scrap its new apprenticeship target for the public sector, after new analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found it would not deliver value for money.

1/23/2017

The Government’s ‘unrealistic’ apprenticeship targets would see London boroughs being pressured to increase their creation of apprenticeships by more than 570%, councillors warn.

1/20/2017

The local government sector will be required to hire ‘thousands’ of apprentices as part of Whitehall’s commitment to deliver three million apprenticeships by 2020.

1/6/2017

Small council-maintained schools should be treated the same as small academies and faith schools and be exempt from the Apprenticeship Levy, say council chiefs.

11/11/2016

Huge amounts of money will be spent on sub-standard apprenticeships unless new quality standards are imposed, a leading think-tank has warned.

9/12/2016

London boroughs would have to increase their creation of apprenticeships by more than 570% to meet ‘unrealistic’ Government targets, boroughs warn.

8/17/2016

The Government’s new apprenticeship system is not doing enough to alleviate youth unemployment, report finds.

8/5/2016

The North East’s reputation as a low skilled region is ‘outdated’, but councils need to do more to increase skill levels in certain areas, new report reveals.

7/5/2016

Vulnerable groups are at risk from the Government’s public sector apprenticeship target, according to London Councils.

3/21/2016

The Government’s drive on apprenticeships is failing to deliver for young people, according to commission.

3/15/2016

Whitehall's push to increase the amount of apprenticeships will cost councils hundreds of millions of pounds, putting extra pressure on already squeezed budgets, town hall leaders say.

2/18/2016

Local authorities are being left in the dark on how they will be able to meet the government’s new apprenticeships target.

8/24/2015

The number of jobs, apprenticeships and training places in Britian's seaside resorts has passed the 10,000 milestone thanks to a special fund, according to coastal communities minister Mark Francois.

8/18/2015

A leading children’s charity has called on the Government to set aside 20,000 apprenticeships for care leavers.

8/17/2015

Councils have warned that a growing skills crisis in the construction industry could undermine government plans to build more affordable homes.