The association sent questionnaires to its members to establish the extent of a funds shortfall triggered by 16- to 21-year-olds remaining on the programme (YPN, 16-22 February, p2).
About two-thirds of the first 85 respondents believe they will need to cut back on recruitment and nearly one in three say their contracted budget is too small to fund existing Apprenticeships, let alone recruit new ones.
This includes 16- to 18-year-olds, which the Learning and Skills Council has a legal obligation to provide places for.
The emerging data is being shared with the skills council in a joint attempt to measure the extent of the funding problem.
The association is warning that the target of recruiting a further 175,000 apprentices from August this year cannot be met unless extra funding is found.
