Adults seeking places on Gordon Brown's flagship apprenticeship schemes will be turned away because there is not enough money to fund their training, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
Higher education chiefs have also warned that as many as 200,000 school-leavers could be refused university places in the autumn.
The revelations follow a row over a £200 million black hole in school and college budgets that threatens to deny education places to 50,000 A-level students in September, and will fuel fears of a wider crisis in Labour's education and training plans.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly lauded the economic value of apprenticeships, saying they "prepare the economy for a future recovery".
But the Government quango in charge of training is now cutting access to apprenticeships because it has overspent its budget.
The Learning and Skills Council has written to colleges and training companies telling them to start turning away adults seeking apprenticeship schemes for the rest of the academic year to save money.
The restriction has been caused by a sharp rise in the number of people aged 25 and more taking up work-based training places. "Demand has far exceeded the budgets available," the LSC letter says.
In the 2006/7 academic year, a total of 100 over-25s started apprenticeships. In 2007/08, the number was 14,600.
In the current year, the LSC's projected total for new apprenticeships was passed after less than six months, raising fears that money meant for next year's training will have to be spent this year.
"Left unchecked 25+ apprenticeship activity will exceed budget allocations for 2009/10," the LSC letter says. "It is clear we have to take action now."
As a result, training providers who have already placed their projected total of adult apprenticeships "will be required to postpone any further recruitment until the next contract year".
Simon Waugh, chief executive of the LSC's National Apprenticeship Service, said that the number of adult apprenticeships has been capped.
He said: "We now need to ensure that we manage the budget and demand carefully and have asked all training providers to ensure that they do not exceed their maximum agreed numbers for Adult Apprenticeships for the rest of this academic year. We will be able to offer more training places for new adult apprentices in the new academic year."
The LSC curb on apprenticeships is the quango's second controversial funding announcement in recent days. Last week, it told schools and colleges that their budgets for post-16 teaching have been cut, sparking widespread anger among head teachers.
The Government has also capped the funding for universities, despite a strong rise in applications as the recession persuades more youngsters to stay in education instead of looking for a job.
According to UCAS, 588,689 people applied to British universities last year and 456,627 got places, suggesting 130,000 were rejected, although some may have been offered places but didn't go.
Professor Les Ebdon, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and chairman of the Million+ group of universities, predicted on Thursday that applications will be significantly higher this year, pushing the rejection figures as high as 200,000. continues here
Higher education chiefs have also warned that as many as 200,000 school-leavers could be refused university places in the autumn.
The revelations follow a row over a £200 million black hole in school and college budgets that threatens to deny education places to 50,000 A-level students in September, and will fuel fears of a wider crisis in Labour's education and training plans.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly lauded the economic value of apprenticeships, saying they "prepare the economy for a future recovery".
But the Government quango in charge of training is now cutting access to apprenticeships because it has overspent its budget.
The Learning and Skills Council has written to colleges and training companies telling them to start turning away adults seeking apprenticeship schemes for the rest of the academic year to save money.
The restriction has been caused by a sharp rise in the number of people aged 25 and more taking up work-based training places. "Demand has far exceeded the budgets available," the LSC letter says.
In the 2006/7 academic year, a total of 100 over-25s started apprenticeships. In 2007/08, the number was 14,600.
In the current year, the LSC's projected total for new apprenticeships was passed after less than six months, raising fears that money meant for next year's training will have to be spent this year.
"Left unchecked 25+ apprenticeship activity will exceed budget allocations for 2009/10," the LSC letter says. "It is clear we have to take action now."
As a result, training providers who have already placed their projected total of adult apprenticeships "will be required to postpone any further recruitment until the next contract year".
Simon Waugh, chief executive of the LSC's National Apprenticeship Service, said that the number of adult apprenticeships has been capped.
He said: "We now need to ensure that we manage the budget and demand carefully and have asked all training providers to ensure that they do not exceed their maximum agreed numbers for Adult Apprenticeships for the rest of this academic year. We will be able to offer more training places for new adult apprentices in the new academic year."
The LSC curb on apprenticeships is the quango's second controversial funding announcement in recent days. Last week, it told schools and colleges that their budgets for post-16 teaching have been cut, sparking widespread anger among head teachers.
The Government has also capped the funding for universities, despite a strong rise in applications as the recession persuades more youngsters to stay in education instead of looking for a job.
According to UCAS, 588,689 people applied to British universities last year and 456,627 got places, suggesting 130,000 were rejected, although some may have been offered places but didn't go.
Professor Les Ebdon, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and chairman of the Million+ group of universities, predicted on Thursday that applications will be significantly higher this year, pushing the rejection figures as high as 200,000. continues here
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