Little of today’s Statement directly concerned skills, but below is a short summary of what was announced:

• The government is investing £625 million to train up to 60,000 additional skilled workers in the construction sector. This includes funding for 35,000 skills boot camps, up to 10,000 foundation apprenticeships, and 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges focused on construction.
• The government will also invest in employment, health, and skills support from 2026-27, scaling up to £1 billion a year by 2029/30. This aims to help people start or stay in work and avoid long-term economic inactivity.
• The government is also launching a new Teacher Industry Exchange scheme to attract industry experts to teach in further education.

The Statement also included an increase in the defence budget and continued investment in nuclear technology. Defence spending will be increased to 2.5% of GDP from 2027 and an additional £2.2 billion for the Ministry of Defence next year. There was a specific reference to modernising and renewing the nuclear deterrent, which will require complex engineering and science skills. This spending is likely to impact nuclear skills programmes.

The government also committed to removing Climate Change Levy (CCL) costs from electricity used in electrolysis to produce hydrogen. This is intended to support the growth of low-carbon hydrogen production, which will play an important role in decarbonising the power system and hard-to-electricity industrial and transport sectors. A consultation on the best route to remove these costs via legislative changes has been launched, and exploring other areas where CCL could be removed to ensure the tax system aligns with the government’s clean power and net zero missions.

As the Spring Statement was being delivered, the Department for Education (DfE) released an update to the Apprenticeship Funding Rules page This indicates its intention not to publish a draft set of funding rules for the next academic year in March, but instead to release the full rules in May this year. Ministers will be working with experts to develop plans, but have indicated updates to:

• Active learning policy, with adjustments to support more flexible delivery models and maintain learner engagement
• Prisoner apprenticeships, clarifying processes and eligibility to expand apprenticeship access for prisoners
• End-point assessment (EPA), implementing modifications following announcements made during National Apprenticeship Week
• Eligibility criteria, updating guidelines to ensure greater clarity and consistency
• English and maths, providing further clarification on requirements to support all apprentices

For the full text of the Spring Statement, click here.

For more information on apprenticeship funding rules, click here.