Apprentices under 18

Not formally, no. The requirement to secure parent/guardian signatures on the Commitment Statement was removed from the funding rules in 2017/18;

Thanks Ben!

I thought that rule had gone but I spoke to a provider adamant that it was still in use and it got me doubting myself.

Just dragging up this topic. My exams colleagues have said that EPAOs are asking for parent consent before they will register apprentices for an EPA, and they're doing that on age at start date, not age at EPA. Has anyone else encountered this? Apparently City and Guilds was one of them. 

Should we challenge this since parent consent is no longer required by ESFA? It feels like a backwards step after the ESFA requirement was removed in 17/18.

Ruth Canham-James this has just been flagged for us also - did you ever get confirmation?

Hi Claire Newport. Nothing back yet. Exams say they're going to raise it again. Imagine being a full grown adult and needing a parent to sign to say you can sit an exam, it's absurd. Some of our apprentices are 17 at the start, and 21 by the time they sit their EPA.

Great thank you. It does seem strange - especially as no need when enrolling. Will let you know if I come across anything.

Claire Newport We finally got a proper response from City and Guilds! Customer Service were still saying we needed parent consent (and that it was an ESFA requirement), but then we asked the Partnership Managers;

I’ve been trying get an answer on why City and Guilds requires parental consent at point of EPA registration, for apprentices that are under 18. I have been told that it is an ESFA requirement. I can’t find anything in the apprenticeship funding rules that states that a young apprentice requires parental consent for any element of their apprenticeship. At one point there was a requirement for parental/guardian consent on the commitment statement, but this was removed in 2017/18.

We deal with a number of different EPAOs, and none of the others that we currently work with require parental consent for apprentices under 18.

Please can you provide the guidance from ESFA that outlines where parental consent is a requirement? We’d like to make sure that we are working consistently and within the rules, but we also don’t want to burden our administration staff unnecessarily. We also want to avoid discouraging apprentices for whom getting consent from a parent or guardian could be difficult.

And one of them replied;

There is no need to complete the parental consent this requirement was removed by the ESFA sometime ago you will be able to add learners to epa pro without this. 

Sorry for any confusion.

Which we knew was correct anyway, but good to get confirmation.

Ruth Canham-James that's great, thank you for letting me know.