For Careers Leaders – New Provider Access Legislation

From January 2023, the UK Government has stipulated that all schools in England must adhere to new provider access legislation. Previously known as the ‘Baker Clause’, the updated legislation expands the required provision to six encounters for all students, through three ‘key phases’. The expected policy announcement is designed to ensure students have knowledge of, and access to, a wide range of vocational and technical routes alongside their academic options.

Whilst the intention is not new, access to independent training providers has been a requirement since 2018, the scale and specificity of the new legislation is. Currently schools are required to provide opportunities for visits from a range of providers of KS4, Post-16 and Post-18 options – including T-Levels, apprenticeships, traineeships, technical and vocational qualifications, applied qualifications and higher technical skill courses. The updated legislation is expected to stipulate further on who should be given access to students, which students they will have access to, how these visits will happen and when.

Whilst more information will follow in the coming months, below is a set of preliminary FAQs to support with your planning.

What do I need to include?

• Two encounters for pupils during the ‘first key phase’ (year 8 or 9) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend
• Two encounters for pupils during the ‘second key phase’ (year 10 or 11) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend
• Two encounters for pupils during the ‘third key phase’ (year 12 or 13) that are mandatory for the school to put on but optional for pupils to attend

Can I schedule these to be extra-curricular offers for students? These encounters must be scheduled within the usual school day and it is mandatory for all students in key phases one and two to attend. It may be a good opportunity to revisit your Benchmark 4 strategy to include these experiences as part of curriculum learning.

What do these encounters need to include? They should include information regarding the provider and their technical/vocational offer. It is best practice to enable students to meaningfully engage with the content they are presented, such as Q&As.

Can I invite the same provider to multiple events? Not in the same phase, they must be two separate providers to count. However, if a student was to see a provider in key phase one and again in the second, this would count as two encounters.

How can the Central London Careers Hub help? From November you will have access to a range of resources and events being hosted by the Central London Careers Hub and the CEC. Your Compass resource will also be updated to help you track achievement against the updated guidance. We will also be working on a Hub-wide list of approved providers to help with creating contacts.

Your Enterprise Coordinator will be in touch soon with further details on the above and to discuss how we can best support your school, do get in touch with them in the meantime with any queries.