A foundation apprenticeship is a paid job at Level 2 with structured training, introduced during 2025. Skills England describes these as employed positions for younger people who will benefit from a wide range of experiences, combining employability skills, technical learning and workplace experience.
The difference from a standard apprenticeship is breadth. A foundation apprenticeship is designed to give a young person experience across an occupational area and the employability skills to build on, rather than to train them for one specific occupation.
- Level: Level 2.
- Who it is for: ages 16 to 21, and up to 24 for care leavers, prison leavers and people with an Education, Health and Care plan.
- Length: a minimum of 8 months, extendable where a young person needs longer.
- What it leads to: a further Level 2 or Level 3 apprenticeship, or direct entry to employment.
Which sectors
| Sectors | |
|---|---|
| Initial sectors | Construction; Digital; Health and Social Care; Engineering and Manufacturing |
| Added from April 2026 | Catering and Hospitality; Retail Service, Supply and Administration |
The two newer foundation apprenticeships show an approved-for-delivery date of 1 April 2026 on the Skills England register.
How many are there?
Very few, so far. DfE's release records 160 foundation apprenticeship starts in the current August-to-April period, against 308,770 apprenticeship starts overall.
That is what you would expect of a route introduced in 2025, and it is exactly why it is worth tracking from the beginning rather than waiting until it is large enough to notice. A route this new has no trend yet; anyone quoting a percentage change on a base this small is quoting noise.
A note on the figure. Summing the provider-level file gives 170 rather than 160. Both follow from DfE rounding every published volume to the nearest 10: rounding each provider cell and then adding can differ by a step from the separately rounded national figure. The published national statistic is used above.
Why they exist
The gap foundation apprenticeships are meant to fill is a real one. Level 2 apprenticeship starts have fallen sharply – from 161,390 in 2017/18 to 65,680 in 2024/25 – and Level 2 is where school leavers are most concentrated. A shorter, broader entry route is a response to that.
Whether it works is not a question this data can answer yet. The honest position is that the route exists, it is small, and the first meaningful evidence will be progression data showing whether foundation apprentices go on to a further apprenticeship or into sustained employment.
One further development worth noting: from 1 October 2026, non-levy-paying employers will be able to claim a £2,000 hiring payment for a new apprentice aged 16 to 24, and that applies to foundation apprenticeships as well as standard ones. At the time of writing it has not yet started.