As the UK grapples with youth unemployment, with almost a million young people not in education, employment or training, the government is pushing to expand technical and vocational learning from age 14 and create thousands more apprenticeships. Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden has announced a new bursary to stop families losing out financially when a teenager takes up an apprenticeship, while research highlights unequal completion rates that make the scheme's design and support structures a pressing concern.

The Guardian gathered accounts from apprentices themselves. Ellen, 24, from Worcester, said an apprenticeship was never suggested to her at school and she faced many rejections before securing a place at an MEP consultancy, where a three-year, four-days-a-week course left her struggling to balance work, study and a social life, though she now progresses faster than graduate colleagues. Harry, 26, a machinist from West Sussex, said cost and a lack of confidence in full-time study put him off university; after working ski seasons abroad, he applied for around five apprenticeships before securing a four-year level 3 placement, and now feels grateful to be in work while some university-educated friends question their choice. Research from the National Foundation for Educational Research found black and mixed-ethnicity learners from poorer backgrounds, and those with English as an additional language, are less likely to complete apprenticeships.