Section 92: Election for apprenticeship offer
275.This specifies the eligibility criteria for persons who may elect for the apprenticeship offer, and provides that a person who elects for the offer should select two apprenticeship sectors for the purposes of the offer. Each sector will contain a number of different frameworks. The intention is that the sectors will follow those of the Sector Skills Councils.
276.To be eligible for the offer a person has to satisfy the apprenticeship offer requirements at level 2 or level 3, as set out in section 95. The person must also be aged between 16 to 18; be a person aged 21 towards whom a local authority owes duties under section 23C of the Children Act 1989, or a person towards whom a local authority owes duties under section 23CA of that Act; or be a person of a prescribed description up to the age of 25.
277.A person aged under 21 to whom a local authority owes duties under section 23C of the Children Act 1989 will be a “care leaver”: a person aged 18 or over, who has been looked after by the authority. A person to whom an authority owes duties under section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 will be a “care leaver” to whom the authority no longer owes duties under section 23C, but who wishes to pursue education or training: the duties provided for by section 23CA may continue to be owed until the person reaches the age of 25.
278.It is intended that the persons who will be described in regulations under section 92(4) will be persons who are subject to a learning difficulty.
279.The section also provides that persons who satisfy the apprenticeship requirements at both level 2 and 3 must choose one of those levels.