Over several years, BADth and colleagues invested significant time and expertise in developing apprenticeship routes that could meaningfully support entry and progression within the dramatherapy profession. This included a Band 7 Dramatherapy apprenticeship developed with Roehampton, intended as a robust alternative route into the profession. Alongside this, a separate art therapy apprenticeship was established in the North East, leading to HCPC registration as an Art Therapist. Despite extensive development work, shifting government policy restricted apprenticeships to lower levels, blocked new programmes from launching, and placed constraints on those that had already begun.
We were then asked by ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ
ר to redirect our efforts towards the development of an Advanced Practice qualification, supporting dramatherapists to progress into higher-level clinical, leadership and specialist roles. Once again, considerable work is being undertaken to define workforce need, develop curriculum and align with national health priorities. We are now facing further proposed policy changes that would remove funding for this work, risking another abrupt halt to a carefully developed and professionally supported pathway.
These repeated changes have had a real and cumulative impact on workforce planning, professional development and long-term confidence in education pathways. In light of this, all Allied Health Professions have written jointly to government, asking them to reconsider the implications of these proposals for our workforces and the services we provide. The statement below sets out our shared position and concerns.
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To whom it may concern,
Please find below feedback on behalf of the Health and Care Professions Education Leads (HCPEL).
HCPEL are a sub group of the Allied Health Professions Federations (AHPF), representing 14 Allied Health Professional Bodies.
From an Allied Health Professions (AHP) perspective, paragraph 67.3 risks inadvertently constraining enhanced practice pathways across the AHP workforce at a time when national policy is actively calling for their expansion. The DHSC 10 Year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future sets out fundamental shifts towards prevention, neighbourhood-based care, integration, digital enablement and a more flexible, multi-professional workforce. AHPs are central to delivering these shifts through enhanced clinical decision-making, system leadership and service transformation.
The current Enhanced Clinical Practitioner (ECP) apprenticeship arrangements address workforce development needs in line with these government policy priorities. Retaining flexibility in the ECP apprenticeship’s delivery at levels 6 and 7 enables our professions to meet workforce needs across the breadth of practice responding proportionately to population and service needs, while supporting sustainable workforce redesign aligned with national priorities.
The Enhanced Clinical Practice apprenticeship provides a critical mechanism for developing clinical capability across the allied health professions. These roles are intentionally underpinned by Level 7 (master’s) education to reflect the complexity, autonomy and leadership expectations placed on practitioners, regardless of the technical level of the occupational standard itself. Enforcing a strict alignment between qualification level and standard level fails to reflect the realities of enhanced clinical practice and workforce transformation within modern health systems.
The proposed changes will disrupt established higher education provision, which has been developed specifically to meet workforce needs and based on robust professional engagement. This will undermine the significant progress made in developing capacity and scalability to address service delivery and workforce development needs across different models of care and across different sectors and settings.
We ask that this change is not implemented in relation to the health and social care workforce and the funding rules retain flexibility for non-mandatory, higher-level qualifications where these are integral to recognised multi-professional practice frameworks and are supported by employers, professional bodies and system leads. Without this flexibility, there is a risk of reducing the attractiveness, coherence and clinical credibility of ECP apprenticeships, at a time when developing and retaining AHPs is essential to addressing service pressures, enabling sustainable workforce redesign, and importantly, continuing to improve patient outcomes.
Kind regards
British and Irish Orthoptic Society, Craig Murray, Chair
British Association for Music Therapy, Andrew Langford, Chief Executive
British Association of Art Therapists, Samantha Barber, CEO (Interim)
British Association of Dramatherapists, Raquel Patterson, Career Progression Taskforce Convenor
British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics, Dr Nicky Eddison, Chair
British Dietetic Association, Menna Wyn-Wright, Head of Education
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Abi Henderson, Head of Workforce and Education
College of Operating Department Practitioners, Alan Mount, Chair of Education and Standards
Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Carolyn Hay, Head of Education
Royal College of Paramedics, Kirsty Lowery-Richardson, Head of Education
Royal College of Podiatry, Coreen Beckford, Head of Education and QA
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Dr Krystina Stanway, Director of Professional Development
Society and College of Radiographers, Dr Emma Hyde, Head of Education and Research
The Institute of Osteopathy, Dr Alison Robinson Canham, Chief Executive