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The bit you left out is:
P36.1 Where a part-time working pattern is applicable, you must agree with the employer and the apprentice the extended apprenticeship duration. You must extend the minimum duration using one of the following formulas:
I would say the minimum duration is based on working 30 hours per week and for part time works the new minimum duration applies but you should ask the ESFA for clarification due to the wording of Par 65 where it quotes 12 months.
HTH
Thanks for that Martin, I agree with you.
I'll raise it at the training the ESFA are doing tomorrow as one of the other questions. I think the wording has changed in the 23/24 rules to the below. However the calculation states Minimum Duration, the rules calls it expected duration.
63. If, at the beginning of the apprenticeship, the apprentice works fewer than 30 hours a week, or has a zero-hours contract, the provider must extend the expected duration of the apprenticeship, using one of the formulas below, and must work with the employer to make sure that the dates on the apprenticeship agreement and training plan are also extended
They clarified this in the funding rule session this morning.
The learner is increased via the above calculation. However if despite working 15 hours a week the learner does 6 hours OTJ a week, then the minimum duration is 12 months not 24.
So if they do the otj of a full time equivalent the minimum duration can be 12 months.
I guess this becomes harder to evidence when the numbers aren't quite as simple. I think it's interesting that in this instance Off-The-Job actually hampers a part time learner achieving an Apprenticeship. A learner currently working a part-time job could be a prime candidate for an Apprenticeship.
I'm beginning to feel my life is taking real world situations and hammering them through a calculation which either says someone is a leaver or too great a funding risk to enroll.
The problem with this is the OTJ learning must take place in the apprentice’s normal working hours if training must, by exception, take place outside of the apprentice’s normal working hours, e.g. in an evening or at a weekend for an apprentice that normally works Monday to Friday between 9-5, we would expect this to be recognised, for example through time off in lieu or by an additional payment to the apprentice.
That’s all well and good where the employer agrees and funds this and the training plan reflects delivery of OTJ training more than the 20% requirement.
I can now see the rational of the change but in practice I expect it would be an exception for those part time Apprentices.
HTH
Sam Bern
Minimum duration part time learners
Created
With the new funding rules I was just clarifying what the minimum duration is of a Part time Apprentice. This isn't a real example, it just for the easy maths of it.
A learner is working a 15 hour week and wants to complete an Apprenticeship that typically takes a learner 12 months.
63.1. 12 x 30 / average weekly hours = new minimum duration (months); or 52 x 30 / average weekly hours = new minimum duration (weeks)
So the new minimum duration is 24 months.
However the below paragraph, which follows this calculation seems to state that a learner could complete after 12 months if they've completed all the OTJ? Am I reading this wrong? I'm know for tying myself in knots over these rules.
65. Any apprentice, including those who are part-time or on a zero-hours contract, can complete their apprenticeship training earlier than their extended learning planned end date, where it is practical and possible to do so, provided the minimum duration (12 months) and the minimum off-the-job hours for the actual time in training have been met.