Write 4 tasks in 55 minutes, then see what to fix and fix it

Helping small firms take on apprentices

The department, the areas, the pilots, the organisations, the people, the events and every figure in this pack are invented for practice.

It is January 2027. You work in the Department for Skills and Local Growth, which advises on and funds policies that help people gain skills and help local economies grow. You are a new fast streamer overseeing the Small Firm Apprenticeships project.

Small firms, those with fewer than 50 staff, employ many young people, but in the department's 2026 employer survey only 9% of small firms said they had taken on an apprentice in the last three years. The most common reasons given were the cost of wages while the apprentice trains, the paperwork, and the risk that the apprentice leaves or the firm cannot keep them busy.

Two pilots ran, each in a different area. Small firms recruited new apprentices aged 16 to 24 from January to December 2025, and each apprentice was followed up 12 months after they started, so the last results came in at the end of December 2026. Each area is compared with the apprentices aged 16 to 24 who started with its small firms in 2024, followed up in the same way. Rolled out nationally, either scheme would be for new apprentices aged 16 to 24 at the start of their apprenticeship, in firms with fewer than 50 staff.

The Minister for Skills and Local Growth has asked for your recommendation on whether one of the schemes should be rolled out across England. Several organisations have strong and conflicting views. Whatever is decided, young people can already search and apply for apprenticeships through the government's apprenticeship search service.

The options

• Wage Top-Up (Northmoor): The firm employs the apprentice directly and can receive up to £3,000 for each new apprentice: £1,500 when the apprentice starts and a further £1,500 if they are still on their apprenticeship 12 months after starting.
• Shared Apprenticeship Agency (Eastbrook): A not-for-profit agency employs the apprentice and places them with one or more small firms, which pay the agency an hourly fee. The agency handles pay, paperwork and training arrangements, and finds the apprentice a new placement if a firm drops out. In the results, an apprentice employed by the agency and placed with a small firm counts as an apprentice in a small firm.

Your tasks. Read the information and complete these 4 tasks:

1. Make a recommendation in writing to the Minister on which scheme, if either, should be rolled out across England, and why.
2. Write an email to Joanne Pryce explaining your recommendation, addressing the concerns in her letter (Item 4) and reassuring her. If you recommend neither scheme, explain why and what happens next.
3. Assume the Minister has accepted your recommendation. Write a short piece for school newsletters telling parents and carers what the scheme offers young people and how to find out more (details will be on the department's apprenticeships web page). If you recommend neither scheme, explain what young people can do now instead.
4. Write a note for the project board setting out the three most important risks to the national roll-out you recommend, in order of priority with a reason for the order, how you would manage each, and one measure the board should watch. If you recommend neither scheme, cover the risks of that decision instead.