What counts as off-the-job training for apprenticeships?
Last reviewed: June 2026.
Off-the-job (OTJ) training is one of the most misunderstood parts of apprenticeship delivery, and one of the most common reasons a funding claim is challenged at audit. It is not classroom time versus workplace time, and it is not a separate course bolted onto the job. It is the structured learning of new knowledge, skills and behaviours that takes place within the apprentice's normal paid working hours.
This guide explains what counts as off-the-job training, what is explicitly excluded, how the minimum requirement is calculated, and how to keep evidence that will stand up to a DfE funding audit or an Ofsted inspection.
The definition that actually matters
Under the DfE apprenticeship funding rules, off-the-job training is learning undertaken outside the normal day-to-day working duties but within the apprentice's paid working hours, which teaches new knowledge, skills and behaviours relevant to the apprenticeship standard. The key test is not where the learning happens — it can happen at the employer's premises, at the training provider, or remotely — but whether it is teaching something new towards the standard.
Because the test is about substance rather than location, mentoring at the desk, shadowing a colleague on a new process, or a structured e-learning module completed at work can all count, provided they are planned, teach new competence and are recorded.
What counts towards off-the-job hours
The following activities generally count when they are planned against the standard and properly recorded:
- Teaching of theory: lectures, workshops, online learning, lectures and required reading
- Practical training: shadowing, mentoring, industry visits and attending competitions
- Learning support and time spent writing assessments or assignments
- Time spent practising new skills in the workplace under guidance towards the standard
What does not count
Equally important is what must be excluded, because including the wrong activity inflates the claim and creates audit risk:
- Training to acquire knowledge, skills and behaviours not required by the apprenticeship standard
- Progress reviews and on-programme assessment needed only to confirm existing competence
- Training that takes place outside the apprentice's paid working hours
- English and maths (functional skills) up to level 2, which sit outside the OTJ requirement
How the minimum requirement is calculated
Off-the-job training must make up a minimum proportion of the apprentice's normal working hours across the planned duration of the apprenticeship, subject to the absolute minimum-hours floor set out in the funding rules for the relevant year. Because the figure is driven by the apprentice's contracted hours and the practical period of the apprenticeship, two apprentices on the same standard can have different OTJ targets.
The safest approach is to compute the target from the individual learner's hours and start date, plan the hours into the delivery schedule from day one, and monitor the running total against the target throughout — rather than discovering a shortfall at gateway when it can no longer be fixed.
Evidencing OTJ so it survives an audit
At audit, an assessor wants to see that the planned hours were realistic, that the actual hours were genuinely off-the-job, and that there is a contemporaneous record linking each activity to the standard. A spreadsheet of round numbers added up at the end of the year is exactly the pattern that triggers a deeper look.
Strong evidence is captured as delivery happens: each logged activity carries a date, a duration, a description and a link to the knowledge, skills or behaviours it develops, and the running total is visible to both the apprentice and the provider. Journey captures OTJ against the standard as part of delivery, with shortfall alerts, so the evidence pack behind a funding claim is built continuously rather than reconstructed.
Related reading
- How apprenticeship funding works for training providers
- Building an audit-ready evidence pack for a funding audit
- Recognition of prior learning (RPL) and how it affects funding
- E-portfolio & off-the-job tracking
- Funding & ILR software
Journey is independent software and is not DfE or Ofsted approved. It does not guarantee funding or inspection outcomes.