The City of London Corporation is set to reduce its centrally funded apprenticeship numbers by more than a third over the next two years, a move attributed to rising employment costs and changes in national funding. The Corporate Services Committee, meeting on Wednesday 9 September 2026, heard proposals to decrease these apprenticeships from up to 100 to approximately 65 by the end of 2026, with a further reduction to 55 by the end of 2027. Currently, approximately 343 employees are undertaking apprenticeship programmes.
This decision stems from increasing employment costs, particularly the London Living Wage, which the current contingency fund can no longer sustain at the previous level. Additionally, changes to national apprenticeship standards have led to the withdrawal of key qualifications, creating a projected annual levy underspend of £919,539. The withdrawal of standards, including leadership and management provision, is expected to materially narrow the range of levy-funded development available to the Corporation. The policy intent behind these withdrawals is to redirect funding towards younger learners, foundation apprenticeships, and shorter skills-based provision.
The report highlighted that the apprenticeship levy fund for 2026 stands at £1,522,255, but the withdrawal of key standards has narrowed the range of eligible provision. Future provision will prioritise remaining levy-compliant standards, including AI and technical apprenticeship routes, to maximise the value of the levy and align with organisational skills needs. Specifically, the Artificial Intelligence and Automation Practitioner (Level 4) and AI Leadership units (Level 5) are among the routes to be prioritised. These are intended to strengthen capability in AI, enabling the organisation to respond more effectively to changing service demands, innovation priorities, and workforce expectations, and to harness new technologies with greater confidence.
To mitigate the impact of these reductions, departments will be encouraged to utilise vacant roles as locally funded apprenticeship opportunities, particularly in hard-to-fill or priority service areas. This approach, subject to workforce planning, affordability, and departmental approval, aims to strengthen talent pipelines in priority areas, maintain a visible route into the organisation for young people, and offset the reduction in centrally funded places. However, the document does not explicitly detail how the quality and career progression of these locally funded opportunities will be ensured to be comparable to centrally funded ones.
These changes are part of a broader effort to create a more sustainable delivery model for early careers talent, balancing financial pressures with the need to strengthen workforce resilience and succession planning. Nevertheless, the reduction in centrally funded apprenticeships and the withdrawal of key national apprenticeship standards are projected to have several long-term impacts, including a reduced leadership pipeline, weaker succession planning, and a reduced ability to address skills gaps. The loss of key apprenticeship standards may constrain workforce capability, progression, and innovation. Furthermore, a reduction in graduate intake will reduce placement capacity and weaken the Corporation's ability to build future leadership capability.
For more details on the committee's agenda and reports, please refer to the Public reports pack for the Corporate Services Committee meeting on 9 September 2026.
