UK employers investing in apprenticeships may be making costly training decisions without using one of the most telling measures of programme success, according to new industry analysis.
Analysis undertaken by digital and technology training provider, Baltic Apprenticeships, and available to view via an intelligent employer dashboard, comes as new Department for Education figures published today show significant variation in apprenticeship completion rates across England.
Qualification Achievement Rates (QAR) - the percentage of apprentices who successfully complete their training - are one of the most tangible industry measures of apprenticeship performance and training quality, but remain little known in the mainstream.
The data also highlights the scale of variation between providers. In previous years, the gap between lower- and higher-performing providers has been as much as 30 per cent. Early analysis of the latest figures suggests a similar pattern, with 82.1 percentage points now separating the highest and lowest performers.[1] In some sectors, completion rates even fall as low as 16.1%.
Despite offering valuable insights to UK businesses looking to boost their talent pipeline, many employers disregard the data because it is difficult to access and interpret when comparing providers. And with little mainstream attention given to the scoring to date, other well-intentioned businesses remain unaware that the data even exists. This means training decisions are often made without a clear understanding of which programmes are most likely to deliver successful outcomes – creating serious implications for workforce planning as the labour market becomes more competitive and employers focus more heavily on retention, productivity and long-term capability building.
ONS data from February 2026 indicates that hiring is slowing and vacancies are continuing to fall, resulting in increased competition for fewer roles. As a result, many employers are becoming more selective and placing greater emphasis on high-quality, reliable training pathways that develop long-term skills. This makes apprenticeship completion rates a key indicator of whether training investment is likely to deliver sustained skills, retention and workforce capability.
On the data, Harry Hobbs, Head of Business Intelligence at Baltic Apprenticeships, said:
“This data shows there can be a huge difference in outcomes between apprenticeship providers, but worryingly, many employers are still choosing training programmes without clear, comparable information on which ones actually deliver results.
“As the labour market tightens and businesses focus more on productivity and retention, the reliability of training programmes becomes much more important, so understanding completion data is increasingly important for workforce planning.”
To help employers better understand apprenticeship performance data, Baltic Apprenticeships has launched a new public dashboard designed to make official apprenticeship performance data easier to access, understand and compare when choosing training providers or programmes.
The dashboard brings together government performance data in a format that enables employers to compare completion rates across providers and programmes with ease. Initial analysis shows that completion rates in digital and technology apprenticeships average 70%, compared to 65.4% across all apprenticeship standards, with some providers achieving completion rates more than 30 percentage points above the national average.[2]
As a dedicated provider itself, Baltic Apprenticeships reports a strong QAR of 80.4% - an increase of 4.3% on the previous year and significantly higher than the sector average which sits at 70%. However, the organisation says the bigger issue for the sector is not individual provider performance, but whether employers understand apprenticeship performance data and use it when making training investment decisions.
On the dashboard launch, Harry Hobbs, Head of Business Intelligence at Baltic Apprenticeships, said: “If apprenticeships are a workforce investment, then completion is the return on that investment. But too often, the data that shows whether training actually delivers results isn’t easy for employers to find, compare or use when making decisions.
“We launched the apprenticeship performance dashboard to bring this information together in one place so employers can see more clearly which programmes deliver results and which don’t. Apprenticeship quality shouldn’t be hidden in spreadsheets or technical data tables. It should be in plain sight so employers can make better decisions and training investment delivers real workforce skills and long-term value.”
As apprenticeships become an increasingly important route for workforce development and skills investment, Baltic Apprenticeships is calling for greater transparency and clearer use of performance data across the sector, so employers can make more informed training investment decisions and apprenticeship quality becomes easier to see and compare.
Baltic Apprenticeships’ performance dashboard can be found here.
For more information on Baltic Apprenticeships, please visit: www.balticapprenticeships.com
[1] Analysis was limited to apprenticeship providers with at least 50 learners in their completion figures. This is because some providers below that threshold show null values, which may reflect either a 0% achievement rate or a non-published figure due to low learner volumes.
[2] Baltic Apprenticeships’ sector was defined using the ‘Digital’ subject area. This part of the analysis includes all provider values with a minimum of 10 leavers.
