Milburn wants a college-based pre-apprenticeship route for England's school-leavers

Milburn's case is about readiness, and he puts it in an employer's terms. He said young people had been told for years to go and get an apprenticeship ^[12]. "But for many young people there is a gap between leaving school and being ready for a full apprenticeship," he said ^[13]. Employers, he said, "understandably want to know that someone is ready to turn up, learn the job and stick at it" ^[14].

The route is aimed at young people who lack the qualifications, confidence, workplace experience or routines to secure and sustain a full apprenticeship ^[8]. Young people outside education and work rarely make it onto an apprenticeship now. As few as 2% of apprenticeship starters were previously not in education, employment or training (Neet), the Guardian reported ^[7]. "I want a new national pre-apprenticeship route. A course done through colleges, combining English and maths, technical training and proper experience with an employer," Milburn said ^[15].

Nationally, around four in five apprenticeship starts go to people outside the 16-to-18 age group ^[20]. An employer that recruits that way could fairly ask what a readiness course for school-leavers changes for it. In our view, the youth intake is where government pressure will land. Burnham has put the near-1 million Neet count at the top of his agenda, with changes to technical education and apprenticeships attached ^[6].

The money committed so far goes to a different step. The £100m for mayor-led local apprenticeship services comes to about £50m a year ^[21], and it pays for matching young people with businesses ^[11]. Milburn's route addresses the step before that: whether a young person is ready to be matched at all ^[8].

The review had been due for launch next week ^[5]. Sources close to it confirmed the delay but downplayed its significance ^[19]. One said Downing Street was working out how to present the report alongside the Timms review into disability benefits, the budget and the prime minister's 10-year plan ^[19]. Ministers are moving cautiously to avoid a repeat of the welfare rebellion that forced Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves into a costly U-turn ^[18]. The report has not been published, and no cost or start date for the route has been given ^[4].

The proposal resembles a one-year pre-vocational pathway in Austria designed to prepare young people for apprenticeships, according to the Guardian ^[9]. Austria and the Netherlands both have much lower Neet rates than the UK, and in both, the majority of upper-secondary students aged 15 to 19 are on a vocational track ^[10].