The government has been left red-faced by its decision to slap a price tag on apprenticeships after figures showed just 77 people applied for a fees loan.

Those over the age of 24 must now take out a loan to cover the £4,000 cost applied to most further education courses and apprenticeships last month.

Government researchers found that nine in 10 adults would be put off further study by a loan system but ministers ignored the warning.

And official figures have now revealed the government has missed its own target of 25,000 loan applications by a massive margin.

Lecturers' union UCU leader Sally Hunt confessed "even we are shocked at the worryingly low number of people prepared to take out loans."

She said: "We warned the government a policy of charging older learners would put many off and even their own study echoed our concerns.

"At a time of high unemployment ministers should be making it easier for people to retrain, not devising measures that price them out."

National Union of Students further education rep Joe Vinson said the figures "are very concerning but not entirely surprising."

He said: "It is unacceptable to ask apprentices to borrow several thousand pounds simply to go to work, especially as they are already paid below the national minimum wage for their first year of work.

Mr Vinson added that the government should help people "take vocational paths into work rather than dissuading them with a lack of financial support."

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education called for the government to write off loans and offer subsidies to underrepresented groups.

Chief executive David Hughes called for urgent talks with the government to discuss their proposals for fixing their "broken" policy.

Responding to the embarrassing figures, a government spokesman said: "We are closely monitoring the take-up of these loans and will continue to do so."

He claimed the figures would improve because apprenticeships "do not typically start with the academic year so can start throughout the year" but accepted "the current figures for apprenticeships are low."