Nursery World - NVQ funding cut angers training firm

The childcare sector's largest private training provider has hit out at plans to halve the funding available to students aged 19 and over to reach NVQ level 3 from this April. The new funding regime kicks in with the introduction of the Learning and Skills Council in England, which will take over from the Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council. Until now, a trainee aged 19 or over taking a modern apprenticeship would cover both NVQ 2 and NVQ 3 over two to three years and receive funding of around 5,000 to 6,000.

The new funding regime kicks in with the introduction of the Learning and Skills Council in England, which will take over from the Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council. Until now, a trainee aged 19 or over taking a modern apprenticeship would cover both NVQ 2 and NVQ 3 over two to three years and receive funding of around 5,000 to 6,000.

But in the new system the apprenticeship becomes an 'advanced modern apprenticeship', with the funding available halved to just 2,730 and covering only 18 months. Students will go straight into NVQ 3 without covering NVQ 2 first. Alternatively, they could take founda-tion modern apprenticeships, formerly national traineeships, which attract similar levels of funding and aim for NVQ 2.

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