Executive Summary
Adult social care apprenticeship provision is the largest sector of apprenticeship provision in Wales and continues to experience change resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of revised qualifications and increasing workforce pressures. Providers are adapting to changing learner demographics and increasing numbers of learners requiring additional language and learning support.
Across Levels 2 and 3, providers have generally responded positively to the introduction of revised Health and Social Care qualifications, including the core and practice model. In many cases, they have refined delivery models appropriately, strengthened learner induction processes and adapted staffing structures to support implementation. Over the last three years, learner outcomes have improved steadily across much of the sector, with attainment rates in many cases approaching pre-pandemic levels. However, a few providers continue to perform well below sector averages for framework attainment and timely completion.
Across nearly all providers, strong assessor–learner relationships were a notable strength. Learners benefited from regular contact, pastoral support and flexible approaches that adapted learning around shift patterns and workplace demands. In the strongest examples, assessors tailored delivery carefully to learners’ confidence levels, prior experience and personal circumstances. Providers increasingly strengthened arrangements to identify support needs and refer learners to specialist support services.
Employer engagement in supporting learning is one of the most considerable challenges affecting learner progress and timely completion. During our evidence gathering, too many employers failed to provide protected time for off-the-job training or engage actively in progress of learning, despite commitments within apprenticeship learning agreements.
Providers of higher level apprenticeships continued to face substantial challenges in delivering the new suite of frameworks at Levels 4 and 5. Although providers and employers recognised the long-term value of revised higher apprenticeship qualifications in strengthening leadership and management capability, learner outcomes remained too low overall. Providers also raised concerns regarding delays and inconsistencies within external assessment arrangements.
Essential Skills Wales (ESW), particularly in relation to learner’s literacy and numeracy skills development, remained a key barrier to learner progress and framework completion at all levels. Although providers increasingly adopted flexible and learner-centred approaches, the quality and effectiveness of the ongoing development of learners’ literacy and numeracy skills was underdeveloped.
Providers also reported that current funding and programme duration arrangements did not provide sufficient flexibility or reflect the increasing complexity of learner need. In response to these challenges, a few providers had reduced or withdrawn higher apprenticeship provision. This raises concerns about future leadership and management apprenticeship capacity within the sector.