Off-the-Job Training Hours in 2026/27: What Counts and the New Minimums

Last reviewed: 15 July 2026 against version 1 of the apprenticeship funding rules for starts from 1 August 2026.

What changed with OTJ minimum hours?

Off-the-job training (OTJT) remains a statutory part of an English apprenticeship. What changed is how providers establish the minimum volume for newer starts.

For apprenticeships that start from 1 August 2025, the funding rules use a standard-specific minimum. For starts from 1 August 2026, that figure appears on the front of each standard on the Skills England website. It represents the full occupational content for an apprentice with no relevant prior learning.

This matters because a standard's published minimum is no longer recalculated from the learner's weekly contracted hours or planned duration. A part-time learner still needs a realistic delivery period, but part-time hours do not automatically reduce the published compliance figure.

How to set the correct minimum

1. Confirm the learner's start date. It determines which funding rules apply.
2. Open the exact standard and version. Record the minimum OTJ figure shown by Skills England.
3. Complete initial assessment. Identify relevant prior learning before delivery and price are agreed.
4. Set typical planned hours. Your planned volume must be at least the published minimum unless the prior-learning rules justify a reduction. It can be higher where the learner needs more training.
5. Align the records. Planned hours must match across the apprenticeship agreement, training plan and ILR.

Under the 2026/27 rules, no programme can fall below 187 hours of evidenced delivery after prior learning is applied. The practical period must also meet the statutory minimum duration of eight months. Those are separate tests: a provider must satisfy both duration and training-volume requirements.

What counts as off-the-job training?

An activity can count when it is delivered during the practical period, within normal paid working hours, and develops new knowledge, skills or behaviours that are directly relevant to the standard. The rules give examples including:

• taught theory, lectures, role play, simulations and structured online learning;
• practical training, job shadowing, mentoring, industry visits and competitions;
• learning support directly connected to the apprenticeship;
• time spent writing assignments; and
• revision.

The location does not decide eligibility. Training can take place at a provider, online or in the workplace. The test is its purpose, relevance, timing and separation from training delivered solely so the employee can perform their ordinary job.

What must not be counted?

• initial assessment and onboarding;
• standalone English and maths qualifications;
• learning unrelated to the standard's KSBs;
• progress reviews;
• examinations and other on-programme testing; and
• training outside normal working hours, except the limited compensated arrangement permitted by the rules.

Normal duties are not automatically OTJ simply because they touch the same occupational area. A genuine training activity needs a planned learning purpose and a direct link to the standard.

How frequently must active learning take place?

For ordinary delivery models, providers must plan OTJT active learning in every calendar month of the practical period. A clearly agreed front-loaded or block-release model may use a three-calendar-month interval. Where the rules require a break in learning, a missed month should not be disguised with a retrospective generic log.

Progress reviews are useful for checking delivery, but the review itself is not OTJ training. Keep the review record and the underlying learning evidence distinct.

A practical evidence checklist

For each activity, retain enough contemporaneous evidence to show:

• the date, duration and delivery method;
• what new learning took place;
• which KSBs it addressed;
• that it occurred during normal paid working hours;
• learner participation or output; and
• provider verification, including where an employer or another party delivered it.

The provider remains responsible for evidencing all required OTJ training. At the end of the practical period, actual eligible hours must be reported in the ILR. If actual delivery is lower than originally planned but still meets the adjusted compliance minimum, follow the rules for the signed employer and apprentice statement rather than silently editing the original planned-hours field.

For the operational workflow, exception reports and monthly controls behind those records, continue with the OTJ hours tracking guide.