Early years trainer takes Government to court on re-sits

The director of training company PBD, Ross Midgley, has obtained permission to apply for a judicial review of the interim apprenticeship framework, under which some English and maths GCSEs won’t be valid.

The framework, which came into force in September, states that apprentices must have English and maths GCSEs at grade C or above by the time they complete their apprenticeship.

There is also a five-year time limit, meaning that GCSEs achieved more than five years ago will not count unless the candidate achieved an A grade. As a result, many apprentices will have to sit the exams again in order to receive Government funding. Some are opting to pay fees out of their own pocket to avoid having to do the re-sits.

Apprentice Devorah Nyman, 31, has an A and a B obtained in maths and English GCSEs sat 15 years ago, but will have to re-sit the English GCSE to get apprenticeship funding. The rules mean that she could get a worse GCSE grade than she had previously but still qualify for the apprenticeship, because the new exam would be recent. She said, ‘The whole thing doesn’t make sense. What is their reasoning for this?’

Mum-of-two Christa Peers, 33, (below), is also doing a Level 3 Early Years Educator (EYE) apprenticeship. She has relevant grade Cs but took her exams in 1997, so is applying for the Government’s Advanced Learning Loan of £1,800 to avoid re-sits. This also has a grade C entry requirement, but no GCSE time limit.