Drawn from interviews with employers, ESOL providers and apprenticeship providers, this guide has been designed to raise awareness of ways in which ESOL learners can benefit from and progress to employment as an apprentice. It also illustrates how a focus on meeting ESOL learners’ needs in the workplace can benefit employers and training providers.

This guide has been developed by Learning and Work Institute as part of a wider project, undertaken at the request of the Department for Education (DfE), to understand and address barriers to apprenticeships for those with English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) needs.

The project aimed to:

  • Establish how and to what extent providers facilitate the transition from ESOL learning to apprenticeships
  • Identify current barriers to progression to apprenticeships for learners with ESOL needs
  • Identify ways in which policy and practice could be improved, to enable more people with ESOL needs to access apprenticeships
  • Identify any current effective practice in supporting people with ESOL needs to progress into apprenticeships.

30 Medi 2026

From appetite to opportunity

This report for The St Martin’s Group draws on a survey of more than 1,000 HR decision makers to examine employers’ plans to recruit young people, the routes they expect to use, the barriers they face, and the support they need.

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30 Medi 2026

22 Medi 2026

Building an AI-ready workforce: Creating a skills system that prepares UK knowledge workers for the AI transition

AI has transformative potential for the UK economy and could present a net uplift to productivity of up to £80 billion by 2035. Yet the UK workforce does not – yet – have the skills to successfully adopt and scale AI technologies in a truly transformative way.

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22 Medi 2026

AI skills investment could add £80 billion to the UK economy

The UK can secure an £80 billion boost to its economy by 2035 if the Government and businesses act together to strengthen the technical skills system, according to a major report published today by L&W and The Rigby Foundation.

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15 Medi 2026

Labour market dashboard

Every month, Learning and Work Institute produces detailed and timely analysis of the latest labour market statistics from ONS. Explore our interactive charts.

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8 Medi 2026

Adult Skills Fund spending on English and Maths, 2016–24

This briefing explores the trends in investment in adult (19+) English and maths provision in England in the first five years of Adult Skills Fund devolution between 2019/20 and 2023/24.

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7 Medi 2026

UK must make training the ‘go-to’ response to skills needs, or risk holding back growth, new report warns

The Government’s plans to get the economy growing risk falling short unless it takes action to reverse sharp falls in the training employees get at work, new analysis warns.

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7 Medi 2026

Understanding employer investment in skills

This is the third and final report of our project funded by the Nuffield Foundation looking at employer investment in skills, and how employees are responding to the need to upskill and retrain in a transitioning economy.

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12 Awst 2026

Small employers, big opportunities: apprenticeships for young people

Olly Newton, Executive Director at Edge Foundation, reflects on key messages from the Edge Foundation-sponsored workshop at Learning and Work Institute’s Employment and Skills Convention, exploring how small employers and local partners can support more young people into apprenticeships.

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