The government’s radical overhaul of apprenticeship funding, which aims to boost youth employment and tackle skills shortages, may have serious unintended consequences.

The looming impact on key industries and older apprentices

These consequences will be particularly impactful for many industries such as accountancy, law, and healthcare to name a few, and for older apprentices seeking professional qualifications.

As part of the reforms, from January 2026, critical apprenticeship funding will be taken away from Level 7 (master’s-level) apprenticeships in favour of training for 16–21-year-olds.

While this shift supports entry-level skills and aims to tackle youth unemployment, it may become financially unviable for employers to train individuals over 21. This could be a big blow to mid-career entrants and diverse hiring practices.

How will Level 7 qualifications be affected?

Sectors like accountancy and law, which depend upon on Level 7 apprenticeships to deliver essential qualifications like the ACA and SQE, will be hit hard.

Smaller firms depend on government funding to afford these programs. Without it, many will be forced to scale back or eliminate training schemes, restricting access to the professions for anyone outside the narrow age bracket.

The wider consequences for skills and talent

Combined with existing skills gaps, retiring workforces, and difficulty attracting younger talent, this move by the government may worsen existing shortages in qualified practitioners, shrink the future talent pipeline, and reinforce age-based barriers across sectors that rely on high-level qualifications.

Young people and graduates

These unintended consequences may also hit the young people targeted by the policy. There is a big focus on young people not knowing what they want to do at such a young age and, unfortunately, the scheme could mean if they decide that a career in construction isn’t for them and want to switch to another industry, such as accountancy, then it may make it virtually impossible.

This could put a lot of pressure on young people to get the decision of what they want to do right the first time, which often isn’t realistic.

University graduates could also be hit hard. Those studying with a view to studying further within employment may find themselves out of the running due their age.

Could this lead to more offshoring?

Finally, employers have tried to keep workforces here in the UK, and with the grant funding cut, and the lack of movement in the candidate market, employers may resort to offshoring work which could have a serious impact on the growth of the UK.

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As the government tries to rebuild the UK economy, experts are urging them to ensure that opportunities are not age-restricted and that professional pathways remain open to everyone.