Key takeaways
- £100m, 14 areas, spring 2027. Mayoral apprenticeship brokerage expands from eight pilot areas to all 14 mayoral strategic authorities. Funding spread over two years, from savings found by DWP.
- What brokerage actually is. Local teams who approach firms that have never taken an apprentice and offer to help them do it, and who connect 16 to 24 year olds, especially those at risk of becoming NEET, with vacancies.
- £15m a year for union learning. The Union Learning Fund returns, framed around AI and workplace change. You do not need to be a union member to benefit.
- It is a trailer, not the film. Healey called the brokerage money a "down payment" on Milburn. The review lands within weeks and the white paper comes with the Budget on 28 October.
- What it means for you. Nothing to do today. But if you are in a mayoral area and have never hired an apprentice, expect someone to come looking for you from spring 2027.
Conference announcements are usually safe to ignore. This pair is worth ten minutes, not because anything changes this week, but because both are explicitly positioned as advance instalments on the Milburn review, and that review is the thing that could reshape how your apprenticeship training is funded. Read them as signals and they are quite informative.
What was announced
| Apprenticeship brokerage | Union Learning Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | £100m extra, spread over two years, fully funded by savings found by DWP. | £15m a year. |
| What it does | Expands local apprenticeship brokerage services from eight pilot areas to all 14 mayoral strategic authorities with directly elected mayors. | Restores a fund abolished in 2021, which previously generated around 180,000 learning opportunities a year, via trade unions' workplace relationships. |
| When | From spring 2027. DfE says the first services begin in early 2027, with the rest joining from spring 2027. | Not specified beyond the Budget confirming details. |
| Who it targets | 16 to 24 year olds, particularly those who are NEET or at risk of becoming so, and employers who have never taken on an apprentice. | Working people generally, from essential English, maths and digital skills through to training for growing industries. Union membership not required. |
| The AI angle | None stated. | Explicit. The Treasury release says the fund will "help British workers harness AI rather than be outrun by it", and names AI as a reason the workplace is changing. |
Healey's own description of brokerage is the quotable part: local teams "a bit like football scouts for apprenticeships, who will go to local firms that have never taken on a trainee and say, we'll help you do it", and who go "to the youngsters who've been out of work and say, we've got a place for you". Skills minister Jacqui Smith followed up at a fringe event, saying government wants "a much stronger role at a regional and local level" in helping businesses develop apprenticeships.
No rule changes today. But if you are an employer in a mayoral area who has never hired an apprentice, the explicit policy intent is now that somebody local will come and ask you to, with money behind them, from spring 2027.
The 14 areas
The expansion covers every existing mayoral strategic authority with a directly elected mayor: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, East Midlands, Greater Lincolnshire, Greater Manchester, Hull and East Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, North East, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Midlands, West of England, West Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire, and London.
DfE has since confirmed the first wave: London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Midlands and West of England begin delivery in early 2027, with the remaining areas from spring 2027. Government's stated ambition is strategic authorities everywhere by the end of 2028, so areas without a mayor today are not permanently excluded, just later.
The original £140m pilot came out of the apprenticeship budget. The Treasury says this £100m is funded by DWP savings and that the Budget will set out the detail. Whether it comes from the apprenticeship budget again matters, because money spent on brokerage is money not spent on training. Worth reading the 28 October documents for.
Why the Union Learning Fund is the more interesting one for us
Brokerage is a delivery mechanism. The Union Learning Fund is a statement about who government thinks should be retrained for AI, and the answer it gives is: existing workers, through their workplace, not only new entrants through apprenticeships.
That is a notable counterweight to everything else happening in skills policy right now. The levy is being pushed hard towards young people; Level 7 funding has gone for over-21s; sixteen standards lost funding in September, mostly management programmes used for existing staff. Against that, a fund explicitly for adults already in work, framed around AI, is the first thing this year that points the other way.
For employers it is a small amount of money, £15m a year nationally, and it works through unions rather than through you. But it signals that government has noticed the gap we keep writing about: the levy increasingly funds young entrants while the AI skills problem sits with the people already in the building. Our Lloyds Business Barometer analysis set out how that gap varies by company size, and the AI Leadership Pathway units exist precisely because a full apprenticeship is the wrong shape for an existing senior employee.
What this tells you about 28 October
Milburn is landing, and government is pre-buying parts of it
Signal: calling £100m a "down payment" on a review that has not been published means ministers already know roughly what it says and are comfortable funding pieces early.
What it implies: the review's direction, refocusing on young people and on local delivery, is settled policy rather than an open question.
Devolution is the delivery model
Signal: "led by mayors, because it's the mayor that knows their areas best". Combined with 16-to-19 funding transferring to mayors, the direction is clear.
What it implies: more of your apprenticeship interaction will be regional over the next three years. Note that growth and skills levy funding for 16 to 18 apprenticeships is not being devolved, as the skills minister confirmed in the Lords in September.
Young people, again
Signal: every pound announced is aimed at 16 to 24 year olds, NEETs, or first-time apprentice employers.
What it implies: the planning advice in our Milburn piece holds. If your apprenticeship plan leans on senior staff at Level 6 and 7, that is where the exposure is.
Nobody mentioned independent training providers
Signal: Healey said mayors "know which colleges are delivering". As one FE Week reader pointed out, around two-thirds of apprenticeships are delivered by independent providers.
What it implies: if brokerage services default to steering employers towards colleges, employers may be pointed away from the provider that actually offers the standard they need. Worth asking your mayoral authority how its service will handle provider choice.
What we would do with this
Nothing urgent. Two things worth a diary note.
First, if you are in one of the 14 mayoral areas and you have been thinking about a first apprentice, you do not need to wait for a broker to knock in 2027. The funding available today is already the most generous it has been for under-25s, and from today there is up to £8,000 in stacked incentives on the table.
Second, put 28 October in the diary. The white paper, the Budget and Milburn's recommendations land together, and that is the moment anything actually changes. We will write it up the same week.
Want our read on the Budget the day it lands? Tell us you want it and we will send you the employer version on 28 October: what changed, what did not, and what to do about it. No sales call attached.
Put me on the Budget list →The honest summary
- What was announced: £100m to expand mayoral apprenticeship brokerage to all 14 areas from spring 2027; £15m a year to restore the Union Learning Fund, framed around AI.
- What changes today: nothing.
- What it signals: Milburn's direction is settled, delivery is going regional, and the money keeps pointing at 16 to 24 year olds.
- What to do: diarise 28 October; if you have been meaning to hire a first apprentice, the incentives are already there.
Frequently asked questions.
What did the chancellor announce for apprenticeships at Labour conference 2026?
On 28 September 2026 chancellor John Healey announced £100 million over two years to expand local apprenticeship brokerage services from eight pilot mayoral areas to all 14 mayoral strategic authorities with directly elected mayors, available from spring 2027. He described the services as being "a bit like football scouts for apprenticeships" and called the funding a down payment on Alan Milburn's review of young people not in education, employment or training. He also announced £15 million a year to restore the Union Learning Fund in England.
What is apprenticeship brokerage and how would it affect my business?
Brokerage services are local teams, run by mayoral authorities, with two jobs: helping employers who have never taken on an apprentice to create and navigate apprenticeship opportunities, and connecting 16 to 24 year olds, particularly those who are NEET or at risk of becoming so, with vacancies. Each mayoral authority designs its own service for its area. If you are an employer in one of the 14 areas and have not hired an apprentice before, the practical effect is that someone local may approach you from 2027 offering support to do it.
Which areas get apprenticeship brokerage services and when?
All 14 mayoral strategic authorities with directly elected mayors: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, East Midlands, Greater Lincolnshire, Greater Manchester, Hull and East Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, North East, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Midlands, West of England, West Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire, and London. DfE has confirmed the first wave begins in early 2027 in London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Midlands and West of England, with the remaining areas from spring 2027.
What is the Union Learning Fund and can my employees use it?
The Union Learning Fund supports workplace learning through trade unions, and was abolished in 2021 having previously generated around 180,000 learning opportunities a year. The chancellor confirmed £15 million a year to restore it in England, with support ranging from essential English, maths and digital skills to training for growing industries such as advanced manufacturing. Employees do not need to be union members to benefit. The Treasury framed the fund explicitly around AI, saying it will help British workers harness AI rather than be outrun by it.
Does any of this change apprenticeship funding rules now?
No. Neither announcement changes a funding rule, a co-investment rate or an eligibility criterion. Both are future spending commitments, with brokerage starting in 2027 and Union Learning Fund details to follow at the Budget. The things that have actually changed this year, the 12-month levy expiry, the end of the 10% top-up, 25% co-investment for levy payers who exhaust their funds, full funding for under-25s and the defunding of 16 standards, all took effect on 1 August 2026 and are unaffected.
When will we know what actually changes?
The Budget is on 28 October 2026, and the education and skills white paper is expected alongside it with proposals, legislation and an implementation timetable. Alan Milburn's final NEET review is due within weeks and is expected to recommend significant change to the growth and skills levy. The Treasury has also said the Budget will set out how both the brokerage expansion and the Union Learning Fund are funded by savings found by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Sources: HM Treasury, Chancellor backs young people into work by supporting jobs, 28 September 2026, for the £100m brokerage expansion, the 14 mayoral authorities, spring 2027 timing and the £15m Union Learning Fund including the AI framing; FE Week, 28 September 2026, for Healey's and Jacqui Smith's quotations, the original £140m pilot funding and the list of mayoral areas; DfE, The Growth and Skills Levy employer page, for the first-wave delivery areas and timings. The observation about independent training providers follows a reader comment on the FE Week report. Our reading of what the announcements signal about the Budget is our own analysis, not government policy. TESS Group is an independent training provider and has a commercial interest in employers choosing apprenticeships.