Celebrating National Apprenticeships Week 2026

It’s Good News Friday and this week we’re celebrating apprenticeships in honour of National Apprenticeship Week 2026.

Chaired by Nigel Taylor, the employer led Trailblazer group represents the full breadth of adult social care. Bringing together large national providers, small and medium sized organisations, local authorities, voluntary and community sector employers, training providers and subject matter experts, the group exists to ensure apprenticeship standards truly reflect the real-world skills, knowledge and behaviours needed across the sector.

Nigel says:

A key milestone this year has been significant progress on revisions to the Adult Care Worker Level 2 apprenticeship standard. Following extensive consultation with employers, frontline staff, awarding organisations, training providers and Skills England, the revised standard is now in its final stages of refinement.

The updated standard strengthens alignment with regulatory expectations and the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification, embeds greater clarity around professional boundaries and safety, and reflects modern practice including technology-enabled care. Crucially, it also better supports progression into Level 3 roles, creating clearer career pathways for new entrants.

Looking ahead, the Trailblazer’s priorities for the coming year include completing revisions across the wider apprenticeship suite, ensuring consistency from Level 2 through to Level 5. The group is also focused on strengthening portability and progression, so apprenticeships support genuinely navigable careers across different roles and settings, not just within single organisations.

At a time of wider transformation in skills and apprenticeship policy, Nigel is clear about what adult social care needs. Greater flexibility in funding and delivery, continued investment in digital and foundational skills, stronger alignment between apprenticeships and regulation, and clearer progression routes into leadership will all be vital. Above all, he highlights the importance of recognising social care as a profession, with clear routes into higher level standards and parity of esteem with health.

Having been involved in apprenticeships for many years, Nigel has seen first-hand their impact. Apprenticeships build confidence and competence, improve retention, and create structured progression pathways from entry level roles to management and specialist practice. They strengthen professional identity and give employers assurance of consistent, high-quality training across services.

For employers yet to embrace apprenticeships, his message is clear.

As we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2026, apprenticeships remain central to building a skilled, confident and future ready adult social care workforce, supporting not only today’s services, but tomorrow’s leaders.

Apprenticeships data

We’ve published updated insights in our latest ‘Apprenticeships in adult social care 2024/25’ report. Using Department for Education data, it looks at topics including apprenticeship levels, demographic trends, a regional comparison and trend analysis.

The report tells us that:

• there were around 24,650 adult social care apprenticeship starters in 2024/25, 5% more than in 2023/24
• all apprenticeships had around 353,500 starters in 2024/25, a 4% increase from 2023/24
• between 2020/21 and 2024/25 there was a 27% reduction in adult social care starters, in comparison with a 10% increase in all apprenticeship starters.

Read the full report.

Visit our webpage for more information about apprenticeships.

If you have a good news story to share email us marketing@skillsforcare.org.uk

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