Off-the-Job Training Hours — 1,066 Hours on ST0152

Installation & Maintenance Electrician (ST0152) — 1,066 hours across the whole apprenticeship. That is the figure most electrical apprentices need, for anyone starting on or after 1 August 2025. Every standard carries its own fixed total, set by the Department for Education in Annex C of the apprenticeship funding rules.

Source: DfE apprenticeship funding rules 2025/2026, Annex C. Figures are the minimum off-the-job hours for the whole apprenticeship. If you are a college-linked apprentice, your provider holds the authoritative required-hours figure for your programme — always use theirs if it differs.

On 1 August 2025 the way off-the-job training is measured changed. The long-standing 20% model was replaced with a fixed total number of hours set for each apprenticeship standard. Which rule applies to you is decided by your apprenticeship start date — and it stays fixed for the whole programme, so nothing changes mid-apprenticeship.

A few details matter under the current rules. The practical training period must run for a minimum of eight months, and there is an absolute floor of 187 hours below which off-the-job training can never be evidenced for any standard. Standards that started between August and December 2025 used lower transitional figures; from 1 January 2026 the full Annex C total is mandatory for new starts.

Because the total is fixed, apprentices can front-load their hours. Once the full total is banked, the provider may stop recording further off-the-job time while the apprenticeship continues to gateway and the End Point Assessment.

Off-the-job training (OTJ or OJT) is learning that happens away from your normal day-to-day work duties. It is a mandatory component of every apprenticeship in England and a condition of the apprenticeship funding your employer receives.

The purpose is to guarantee dedicated learning time — time specifically set aside for acquiring new knowledge, skills, and behaviours relevant to the apprenticeship standard. Without it, there would be a risk that apprentices simply work as cheap labour without receiving the structured training that distinguishes an apprenticeship from ordinary employment.

For electrical apprentices on the Installation & Maintenance Electrician standard (ST0152), off-the-job training covers everything from formal college attendance to online study, manufacturer training, supervised practice of new skills, and directed research. It is broader than most apprentices realise — and understanding what counts (and what does not) is what makes the requirement manageable.

Meeting the requirement is also a gateway condition for the End Point Assessment. If you cannot demonstrate that you have completed sufficient off-the-job training hours, you cannot progress to the EPA and complete your apprenticeship.

If your apprenticeship started before 1 August 2025, the older 20% rule applies to you for the whole programme — so this section still matters for a large number of current apprentices. Under it, at least 20% of an apprentice's paid working hours are spent on off-the-job training, calculated across the total duration of the apprenticeship rather than policed week by week.

What 20% means in practice: on a 30-hour contract that is 6 hours a week; on a 37.5-hour contract it is 7.5 hours a week. Unlike the current rules, there is no published programme-total figure for this method — your training provider holds the target that applies to your programme, and theirs is the figure to work to.

Flexibility: the 20% is an average over the entire apprenticeship. Some weeks you may do more (block-release college weeks), some less (intensive project periods at work). As long as the overall average reaches 20% by the time you approach gateway you are compliant — but the expectation is that off-the-job training is spread reasonably throughout the programme rather than left to the final few months.

Who tracks it: both you and your training provider. Your provider reviews your hours at progress meetings (typically every 6 to 12 weeks) and flags any shortfall. You are responsible for recording activities that happen outside formal college sessions — online study, shadowing, manufacturer training, and directed reading.

The official definition is learning undertaken outside of the normal day-to-day working environment that leads towards the achievement of an apprenticeship. It can be delivered at the apprentice's normal place of work provided it is clearly distinct from normal work duties. These activities count:

Understanding the exclusions matters just as much — logging hours that will later be stripped out is how apprentices end up short at gateway.

The grey area between learning something new and doing your normal work can be confusing. A good rule of thumb: if you could not do this task before the training session, and it is relevant to the apprenticeship standard, it counts. If you are repeating a task you already know how to do, it does not — even if you are getting better at it through repetition.

For apprenticeships starting from 1 August 2025, working out your requirement is simpler than it used to be — you read it off your standard rather than calculating a percentage.

Step 1 — Confirm your start date. Off-the-job rules follow your start date for the whole programme. Started before 1 August 2025? Use the older 20% rule (6 hours a week on a 30-hour contract, 7.5 hours on a 37.5-hour contract). Started from August 2025? Use the fixed-hours method below.

Step 2 — Find your standard's fixed total. On Installation & Maintenance Electrician (ST0152) it is 1,066 hours for the whole apprenticeship; on Domestic Electrician (ST1017) it is 626 hours. The table above lists the main electrical standards, and your provider can confirm which one you are on.

Step 3 — Set a weekly pace. Divide your total by the number of working weeks in your programme. UK statutory holiday is 5.6 weeks, so a full year is about 46 working weeks. That makes 1,066 hours over a four-year programme (roughly 186 working weeks) about 5.7 hours a week — and you can front-load it and bank the total early.

What you record. Your college or training-provider days usually make up a large share of the total and are logged centrally by the provider. Your job is to capture everything else — online study, shadowing on new work, manufacturer training, toolbox talks that teach something new, and directed practice — so your full total is evidenced.

Do not drift. Because it is a single total to reach, the danger is quietly falling behind without noticing. A couple of study sessions, a toolbox talk, or an hour of directed reading each week adds up quickly.

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Automatic off-the-job hour tracking

Elec-Mate tracks your off-the-job hours against your standard's fixed total, so you always know how many remain.

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Recording off-the-job hours is not just about keeping a total — it is about evidencing that the training happened, what it covered, and how it relates to the apprenticeship standard. This evidence is reviewed by your training provider at progress reviews, checked at gateway before the EPA, and may be inspected by Ofsted.

What to record for each activity: the date and time; the duration in hours; a description of what you did; the new knowledge, skills, or behaviours you gained; how it links to the apprenticeship standard criteria; and any supporting evidence (certificates, screenshots, notes, photographs).

Traditional methods. Many apprentices use a paper log or spreadsheet provided by their training provider. These work, but they are tedious to maintain, easy to fall behind on, and difficult to verify. If you lose the log or forget to update it for several weeks, reconstructing your hours from memory produces unreliable records.

Digital tracking. Elec-Mate records on-platform study automatically and lets you add off-platform activities in a few taps, then attaches your evidence — photographs, certificates, quiz results, mentoring notes — to each entry. That evidence strengthens your OTJ record and feeds straight into your apprentice portfolio.

Ofsted inspects apprenticeship training providers and pays specific attention to off-the-job training. During an inspection, Ofsted may review individual apprentice OTJ records, interview apprentices about their training experience, and assess whether the provider is ensuring apprentices receive their required off-the-job training time.

What Ofsted looks for: evidence that off-the-job training is planned, delivered, and documented; that it is meaningful and directly relevant to the apprenticeship standard rather than box-ticking; that apprentices can articulate what they have learned from it; that employers are providing the required time; and that the provider monitors compliance and intervenes when apprentices fall behind.

Why it matters to you. If your provider receives a poor Ofsted rating partly because of inadequate off-the-job records, it reflects on the quality of your apprenticeship, and employers or assessors may question how robust your training was. Well-documented records do the opposite — they support your credibility and demonstrate your commitment to professional development.

Your employer has specific responsibilities regarding off-the-job training. These are not optional — they are conditions of the apprenticeship funding agreement your employer signed.

Providing time. Your employer must release you for the off-the-job training your apprenticeship requires, within paid working hours. That includes college or training-provider sessions, time for directed study, and support for learning activities on the employer premises.

Paying for training time. All off-the-job training time must be paid at your normal hourly rate. Your employer cannot deduct pay for college days or study time that forms part of the off-the-job requirement.

Supporting learning on site. Good employers go beyond the minimum. They expose apprentices to a variety of work types, pair them with experienced electricians for mentoring, encourage attendance at manufacturer training events, and create a culture where asking questions and seeking feedback is normal.

Monitoring and review. Your employer should take part in regular progress reviews with the training provider, covering your off-the-job hours, the quality of your learning, and any barriers to meeting the requirement. If work pressures are preventing you from getting enough time, employer and provider should agree a plan to fix it.

If your employer is not meeting their obligations. Talk to your training provider first — they have a contractual relationship with your employer and a responsibility to ensure the apprenticeship agreement is followed. If the provider cannot resolve it, the Department for Education runs an apprenticeship helpline for apprentices in exactly this position. Document specific instances where off-the-job time was denied or pay was deducted for training days.

Elec-Mate's off-the-job tracker was built for electrical apprentices. It keeps your hours, your evidence and your standard's fixed total in one place, so you always know where you stand.

Automatic logging. Time you spend studying on Elec-Mate — courses, quizzes, flashcards, mock exams, BS 7671 content, the EPA Simulator and the AM2 Simulator — is tracked for you, with no manual entry for on-platform activity.

Manual entries for everything else. Add college days, toolbox talks, manufacturer training, shadowing sessions, industry visits and directed study in a few taps. Each entry captures the date, duration, description and activity category.

Activity categories. Hours are organised by type — college and training provider, online learning, practical skills, shadowing and mentoring, manufacturer training, industry visits, directed study — which gives a clear picture of the breadth of your off-the-job experience, exactly what a tutor or inspector wants to see.

Compliance forecast. See your total hours, percentage against your standard's fixed total, weekly average and projected position at gateway. A traffic-light indicator shows whether you are on track, slightly behind, or significantly behind.

Joined up with the rest of your record. Hours feed your portfolio, link to the relevant apprenticeship standard criteria, and appear in the gateway readiness view — so when your employer, tutor or an inspector asks, it is all in one place.

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Never fall behind on off-the-job hours

Automatic study logging, activity categories, evidence attachments, and a running total against your standard's fixed requirement.

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