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(2026) . Securing success from start to finish – investigating factors associated with apprenticeship withdrawal. Slough: NFER.  \nContents  \nExecutive Summary 5  \n1 Introduction 9  \n2 Policy Background 10  \n3 Trends in apprenticeship achievement 12  \n4 Apprenticeship withdrawals and learner, provider and employer characteristics 15  \n5 Apprenticeship withdrawals and duration 31  \n6 Apprenticeship withdrawals and earnings and employment 34  \n7 Conclusions 37  \n8 References 38  \nAcknowledgements  \nWe would like to thank The Gatsby Charitable Foundation for funding and commissioning this project. We are particularly grateful to Daniel Sandford Smith at The Gatsby Charitable Foundation for his invaluable input, feedback and support throughout this research. This work was undertaken in the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service using data from ONS and other owners and does not imply the endorsement of the ONS or other data owners. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of these individuals or their organisations.  \nA note on terminology  \nApprenticeship achievement: constructed by the Department for Education (DfE) and calculated from the number of achieved learning aims in a given reporting year as a percentage of learning aims set to end in that year, excluding the programme aims of any learners that transferred onto another qualification within the same institution (DfE, 2024b) .  \nApprenticeship withdrawals: constructed for this report and calculated for each year based on the proportion of apprenticeship starters in that year who subsequently withdrew within the period covered by our dataset1 as a proportion of all learners who had either withdrawn or completed (where learners are counted as completing on finishing their programme of study regardless of outcome) , after excluding learners still progressing towards an outcome. An apprenticeship withdrawal may happen for a range of reasons including learners leaving their apprenticeships for other opportunities, and employers terminating an employment contract.  \nDue to the differences in methodology used, achievement and withdrawal rates reported throughout the report cannot be directly compared. The withdrawal rates estimated in this report will overstate withdrawals in the later years of the period covered by our dataset, compared to DfE’s methodology for estimating apprenticeship achievement , because learners still progressing towards an outcome will be more likely to complete than withdraw. The advantage of our approach compared to DfE’s methodology is that it enables us to include a larger number of more recent apprenticeships in our statistical analyses and allows for better comparison of withdrawals between apprenticeship frameworks and standards.2  \n1 Our dataset covers withdrawals and completions up to the end of the 2020/21 academic year for all qualifications started up to the end of the 2019/20 academic year.  \n2 Frameworks and standards can be better compared in our definition as by focusing on learners who complete rather than pass their qualifications , we are excluding any differences in achievement rates that result from the introduction of en","cbCaignbfUdKBoa4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaignbfUdKBoa4","pdf",448666,"English","# Executive Summary\n## 1 Introduction\n## 2 Policy Background\n## 3 Trends in apprenticeship achievement\n## 4 Apprenticeship withdrawals and learner, provider and employer characteristics\n## 5 Apprenticeship withdrawals and duration\n## 6 Apprenticeship withdrawals and earnings and employment\n## 7 Conclusions\n## 8 References","[{\"question\":\"What does the report focus on regarding apprenticeships?\",\"answer\":\"It investigates factors associated with apprenticeship withdrawal and considers policy options for reducing withdrawals, while also examining earnings and employment benefits of completion.\"},{\"question\":\"How are apprenticeship achievement and withdrawal defined in the report?\",\"answer\":\"Achievement is constructed from achieved learning aims as a percentage of learning aims set to end in a reporting year (with stated exclusions). Withdrawal rates are constructed for each year from the proportion of starters who withdraw within the dataset period, excluding learners still progressing toward an outcome.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the report say achievement and withdrawal rates cannot be directly compared to DfE’s methodology?\",\"answer\":\"Because the methodologies differ, the report’s withdrawal estimates may overstate later-year withdrawals compared with DfE’s achievement approach, as learners still progressing are more likely to complete than withdraw.\"}]","Securing success from start to finish - investigating factors associated with apprenticeship withdrawal | PDF",1792057309,101]