Off-the-job training calculator for apprenticeship providers

Last reviewed: July 2026.

A good off-the-job training calculator does more than multiply weekly hours by a percentage. For apprenticeship starts from 1 August 2025, providers need to plan the volume of off-the-job training required for the standard, reduce it only where relevant prior learning is evidenced, and keep a record that explains the number used in the ILR and the training plan.

This guide gives providers a practical way to calculate planned OTJ hours and, just as importantly, to evidence the calculation so it can be defended at funding audit and understood at gateway.

What to put into the calculation

Start with the apprenticeship standard and the provider's normal planned delivery model for that standard. From there, look at the individual apprentice: their start date, planned practical period, contracted paid hours, any relevant prior learning, and any adjustments agreed at enrolment.

The important point is that the calculation belongs to the apprentice and the rule year that applies to their start date. Historic learners and new starts can be under different rule packs, so the calculator must not overwrite old logic with a single current-year assumption.

The calculation providers should evidence

A defensible OTJ calculation records the typical planned hours for the standard, the evidence used for any RPL reduction, the resulting planned hours for this apprentice, and the point at which those hours were agreed with the employer and apprentice.

For 2025/26 starts, the rules moved away from the old blanket 20% shorthand and towards published minimum hours for each standard, provider planned hours and evidence-based RPL reductions. The 2026/27 rules continue that direction, so providers should use the applicable rule pack rather than relying on memory or a spreadsheet copied from a previous year.

Why a calculator is not enough

The number is only useful if delivery then follows it. A provider needs to see planned hours, logged hours, the running shortfall or surplus, and the evidence behind each activity. At gateway, the question is not simply what the calculator said at enrolment; it is whether the apprentice actually completed the required training and whether the evidence links to the standard.

That is where many providers get into trouble. A standalone calculator creates a target, but it does not prove that the right activities happened, within paid working hours, and against the right knowledge, skills and behaviours.

• Keep the calculation with the learner record and training plan
• Record RPL evidence before reducing planned hours
• Track actual OTJ activities against the standard as delivery happens
• Review shortfalls during progress reviews, not at gateway
• Keep an audit trail of any correction to the planned figure

How Journey helps

Journey calculates and tracks off-the-job training inside the apprenticeship record. Planned hours are held against the learner and the relevant rule year, RPL is captured at enrolment, and actual OTJ activities are logged against the standard. Tutors, apprentices and managers see the running position without maintaining a separate spreadsheet.

Because Journey also holds ILR, funding and gateway readiness on the same audited record, the OTJ calculation is not isolated from the rest of delivery. The figure on the dashboard, the training plan and the evidence pack all point back to the same source.

Related reading

• What counts as off-the-job training for apprenticeships?
• Recognition of prior learning (RPL) and how it affects funding
• Building an audit-ready evidence pack for a funding audit
• E-portfolio & off-the-job tracking
• DfE funding rules software

Journey is independent software and is not DfE or Ofsted approved. It does not guarantee funding or inspection outcomes.