Modern apprenticeships: earnings

Background

The Small Business, Employment and Enterprise Act 2015 enabled the UK government, for the first time, to link higher education and tax data together to chart the transition of graduates from higher education into the workplace. The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to link Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) records for the whole of the UK to the tax and benefits records.

Following our third release focusing on the employment and earnings of graduates from higher education at universities, we wanted to expand our LEO releases to also include those completing Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland.

This release presents employment and earnings outcomes for Modern Apprentices five years after completion. This publication is the first of its kind, in Scotland, to use the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset to track the earnings of those who complete MAs, where there is a public funding contribution.

This publication looks at those who completed a Modern Apprenticeship (MA) in Scotland. Figures are presented only for those who successfully completed an MA and have not been split by full time or part time modes of study. On average, matching of over 95 per cent of each completer cohort to tax and/or benefit data has been achieved. This high match rate is most likely due to SDS collecting data on National Insurance Number (NINO). NINO is also included in DWP's Customer Information System (CIS).

The employment data covers those with records submitted through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system and records submitted through the self-assessment system. The core purpose of PAYE is to collect tax and its coverage reflects this. Up until April 2013, employers were not required to supply information to HMRC for individuals who earned below the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) for National Insurance contributions, although for large employers these individuals were thought to be included due to the methods of data transfer. Since then, employers have been required to provide earnings information for all employees if even one employee of the company is paid above the LEL threshold. The self-assessment data captures the activity of individuals with income that is not taxed through PAYE, such as income from self-employment.

Self-assessed earnings are not published in isolation, rather they are included as part of a total earnings figure. See 'Total earnings' under Methodology for more information on this. All figures are based on UK tax, benefit and apprentice records only: activity of those who move abroad to work or study after completion is not reflected in the employment or further study figures. Instead, these individuals are categorised as 'activity not captured'.