The St Martin’s Group commissioned Learning and Work Institute to explore the barriers apprenticeship employers face, what employers can do to help apprentices complete their programmes, and ultimately how ‘best outcomes’ of apprenticeships are defined by different parties across the system.

More than 800 apprenticeship employers were surveyed to better understand what leads to successful completions and any challenges they face. a better understanding of what apprenticeship success looks like for employers.

Key findings include that:

• Almost all employers view apprenticeship completion as important but only 1 in 3 report completion rates of over 75%
• Support offered to apprentices, particularly in relation to off the job training and pastoral care, leads to higher completion rates
• The biggest barrier to providing support is time off the job for training, study or completing assignments
• Employers say that financial support for completions and to cover the costs of off the job training would help them the most

The study is the second part of a research series on apprenticeship outcomes and destinations. The first report, published in Autumn 2022, explored the experiences, outcomes and destinations of apprentices who complete their programme and those who do not.