Apprenticeships in England are available for those aged 16 and over, and combine practical training in a job with study.
They take between one and five years to complete, depending on their level.
A level 2 apprenticeship is considered the equivalent of a GCSE, while 6 and 7 are considered equivalent to a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Overall the government is promising to create 120,000 more training opportunities for young adults, and those who need to retrain.
An increase in a charge paid by employers recruiting from outside the UK will be used to create 45,000 training places, building on existing programmes aimed at helping adults get into work.
The big shift in Tuesday’s announcement is to pull funding from the highest level apprenticeships, equivalent to a postgraduate or masters degree.
These level 7 apprenticeships are used by people training in a wide variety of roles, including accountants, tax advisors and solicitors, most of whom are already in work.
They are also a significant part of some NHS advanced training, such as for district nurses who want to a more specialist qualification.
Since an apprenticeship levy for large employers was introduced in 2017, there has been a boom in higher qualifications at degree or postgraduate level, called level 6 or level 7.
However, the numbers of young adults starting entry apprenticeships at level 2 has fallen.
Tuesday’s announcement is an attempt to push more of the money generated by the apprenticeship levy paid to government towards those under the age of 21.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “When we invest in skills for young people, we invest in a shared, stronger economic future.”
She told BBC Breakfast the changes were “really good news for young people” and that it was “time as a country we took skills far more seriously than in recent years”.
She also said the move would help to address the problem of “too many people not in education, employment or training [Neet], too many people sat at home, which they don’t want to be.”
But Neil O’Brien, shadow education minister, said: “The decision to scrap higher apprenticeships will do damage to the public services, particularly the NHS.
“It will make it impossible for many young people who don’t go university to enter the professions.”
