Mayor of London

Benjamin Lahai-Taylor Economist, Insights, Skills and Employment Unit, June 2026

Apprenticeships are a key tool for skills training, providing on the job experiences for those entering the labour market or changing career paths. The Department for Education (DfE) publishes regular data on apprenticeships across England which gives insight on the learning level, subject, demographics and location of apprentices. Additionally, DfE also produce apprenticeship data linked to industry and business information, the focus on this release. This helps to better understand how apprenticeships correspond with skill needs across England.

This update shows the latest data on apprenticeship starts and achievements by the industry of employment for academic year 2023/24 (August 2023 to July 2024).

The data source for industry characteristics that the DfE utilises has a considerable time-lag. Therefore, for the most recent data on Apprenticeships starts and achievements by Londoners see: London Apprenticeship Update mid-year update 2025/26. The subject apprentices study will give some indication of the industry London’s apprentices are working in.

Throughout 2026, the Government is overhauling the Apprenticeship Levy into a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy. Future editions of this update will explore the impact of this reform on industry characteristics of apprenticeships.


Measuring apprenticeships

The DfE publishes data on apprenticeships by industry characteristics, which matches the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) to the ONS Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) using the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset. This dataset provides more detailed information on the size and industry sector of the apprenticeship employers. The LEO dataset has a time-lag meaning the latest available data is for academic year 2023/24.

This update focuses on the number of apprenticeship starts and achievements by Londoners. These are defined as follows by the DfE:

Starts: The number of apprenticeship programmes that begin in a given academic year. An apprentice is counted for each apprenticeship they start.

Achievements: The number of learners who successfully complete an apprenticeship programme in a given academic year (based on end-point assessment).

More information on the data used and a glossary of terms can be found on the DfE Website.


It is also interesting to compare sector trends in apprenticeship starts to trends in online job postings. This can be done by comparing the year on year change in apprentice starts to the year on year change in online job postings over the same period. This helps us to understand whether the supply of apprenticeships is increasing in the same area where employers are looking for more workers.

  • Overall, the number of apprenticeship starts increased 7% between 2022/23 and 2023/24. Over the same period the total number of job postings decreased by 17%.
  • In 9 of the 17 industries, apprenticeship starts followed job postings in either increasing or decreasing between 2022/23 and 2023/24.
  • Between 2022/23 and 2023/24 ‘Arts, Entertainment and Recreation’, ‘Construction’, ‘Education’, ‘Real Estate Activities’ and ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade’ saw both an increase in job postings and apprenticeship starts.
  • In contrast, ‘Accommodation and Food Service Activities’, ‘Information and Communication’, ‘Financial and Insurance Activities’, ‘Production’ saw a decrease in job postings and apprenticeship starts over the same period.
  • Apprenticeship starts increased most in ‘Public Administration and Defence’, increasing 21% year on year, however, online job postings slightly decreased.


Subjects studied by sector

The data is also available by programme aim title. Learning aims are a single enrolment at a provider as represented on the Individualised Learner Record. The programme aim describes the overall apprenticeship programme, in other words it is the main subject studied on the apprenticeship. The data shows the top ten starts in the sector, or those with at least 20 starts.


Starts

Source: Department for Education - Apprenticeships by industry characteristic.
Note: Estimates are based on where students live.

Achievements

Source: Department for Education - Apprenticeships by industry characteristic.
Note: Estimates are based on where students live.

  • Supervisory apprenticeships (including Team Leader, Senior Leader or Operations Manager) appear in the top ten aim starts for all sectors. In ‘Admin and Support Services’, ‘Manufacturing’ and ‘Production’ it is the top aim. This echoes recent trends towards businesses using levy funds for higher level apprenticeships.

  • There has been an increase in breadth of sectors where Data Technicians are top aims. In 2023/24, Data Technician apprenticeships have entered the top aims in ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical’, ‘Public Admin & Defence’ and, ‘Human Health & Social Work’ for the first time. The share of Data Technician aims has also increased in ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade’, ‘Admin & Support Services’ and, ‘Education’.

  • Data analysis remains an important aim across multiple sectors. There has been a notable shift towards data-related apprenticeships in ‘Human Health and Social Work’ where Data Analysts and Data Technicians now make up 8% of starts collectively.

  • None of the top apprenticeship titles in ‘Arts, Entertainment & Recreation’ are purely creative-based. Instead, the top aims are operational or sports-based.

  • In construction, apprenticeships are a key pathway into many occupations. In 2023/24, Londoners started 130 plumbing and domestic heating apprenticeships and 90 in carpentry and joinery. Also, bricklaying entered Londoners’ top 10 construction apprenticeship starts for the first time, with 60 starts. However, employer demand for these occupations continues to grow rapidly, estimates from Lightcast suggest an annual need of 540 plumbers/heating technicians, 310 carpenters/joiners and 70 bricklayers. Apprenticeships are one way in which this demand can be met.


Conclusion

There are several takeaways from this London Apprenticeship Industry update for the 2023/24 academic year.

Firstly, data shows the growth of large employers (250+ employees) as apprenticeship delivery engines. In this group starts are up 10% year on year and achievements are up 21%.

Secondly, the public sector is an important vehicle for growing skills across London. Health and Social Care continues to be the sector with the most starts and there was a notable increase in Public Administration and Defence, up over 20% compared to the previous year.

Also, apprenticeships continue to support London’s priority sectors, not only in developing sector-specific skills but also in providing many cross-cutting skills needed in all of London’s priority sectors such as leadership, coordinating operations and the ability to work with data.


More information

For information on apprenticeships taken by Londoners see Apprenticeship Statistics for London

Apprenticeships work alongside other vocational training in London funded through the Adult Skills Fund. For data and analysis on the Adult Skills Fund see GLA Adult Skills Fund

For further information on how skills can support priority sectors in London, see analysis supporting London’s latest Local Skills Improvement Plan

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Any other enquiries should be emailed to Benji Lahai-Taylor.


  1. ONS, Inter Department Business Register 2025, Table 9 Regional size summary. Private sector businesses only.↩︎