What apprenticeships are and how to use them

In recent years, the government has reformed the way apprenticeships are delivered and funded in England. As part of these reforms apprenticeships are more robust, better structured, and independently assessed to ensure apprentices gain the skills that employers need for their workforce.
There is a wide range of apprenticeships now available, including higher and degree level apprenticeships. Not only can they support with addressing skills shortages, but they are an excellent means of attracting new talent, developing and upskilling existing staff, and retaining the workforce within the NHS.
What is an apprenticeship?
The government defines apprenticeships as a job with training. They incorporate skills development, technical knowledge and practical experience through a work-based training programme. Apprenticeships are available to anyone over the age of 16 and enable learners to demonstrate competencies while gaining a recognised qualification. Individuals can undertake an apprenticeship at any level (this could be higher, equal or lower to a qualification they already hold), if it allows them to acquire substantive new skills. We talked to three trusts to find out how have been utilising apprenticeships within their organisation to support workforce supply.
Employment is a fundamental part of an apprenticeship and an apprentice must be employed in a job role with a productive purpose. In addition, the minimum duration for an apprenticeship is 12 months and the apprentice must spend at least 20 per cent of their time on off-the-job training (for some roles such as nursing, the requirement may be more). Apprentices must be paid for time spent training or studying for the relevant qualification, whether this is while at work, attending college or a training organisation.
What is the apprenticeship levy?
The apprenticeship levy was introduced in April 2017 and is paid by all employers who have an annual pay bill of £3 million or more. The rate of the levy is set at 0.5 per cent of the total pay bill and is paid to HMRC through the PAYE process. Those with a pay bill of less than £3 million don’t pay the levy and use different arrangements to pay for apprenticeship training.
Levy-paying employers set up an online account to access levy funds which are paid in each month. The levy funds are used to pay for apprenticeship training costs, but not employment costs. Any funds that are not used expire 24 months after they enter the account. To help minimise the risk of funds expiring, the funding works on a first-in, first-out basis, with payments taken from those funds that entered the account first.
In order to prevent levy funds being left unused, organisations can transfer up to 25 per cent of their contributions to another organisation for them to use.
Additional funding and access to work
Employers could be eligible for a payment of £1,000 for young apprentices, aged 16-18 years old, or apprentices aged 19-24, who have previously been in care or who have a local authority education, health and care plan and may need extra support. Read more on the government's apprenticeship pages.
The national learning disability nursing team is offering an employer training grant for each learning disability nursing apprentice who starts training in 2022/23. The value of the grant is £8,300 for each year of the apprenticeship will be available to each employer employing each apprentice who commences on programme by 31 March 2023. The eligible routes include:
- Undergraduate and postgraduate learning disability nursing apprenticeships
- Nursing associates moving to a learning disability nursing apprenticeship
- Apprentices starting this year as a Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA) in a learning disability service identified to continue to an undergraduate learning disability nursing apprenticeship upon successful completion of their TNA course.
Access to Work is a government scheme available to all disabled members of staff, or staff with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD), including apprentices. It provides extra support to ensure that disabled people or those with LDD are not substantially disadvantaged in the workplace. Support might be in the form of specialist equipment, adaptions, support worker services, or help getting to and from work. Access to Work is available to those working as little as one hour per week. While individuals should apply for Access to Work themselves, it would be useful to signpost employees to the application and offer support. You can find out more about the scheme on the Access to Work web pages.
Government support for apprentices with a learning difficulty or disability
The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance on how to support apprentices with a learning difficulty or disability, including the funding options available. The guidance outlines:
- how providers should assess and identify the needs of their apprentices
- how to make a claim in line with the apprenticeship funding rules
Employers can receive up to £150 a month for additional learning needs, with the possibility of making further claims. There is also additional funding available which can go directly to the apprentice.
Building apprenticeships into the workforce strategy
Apprenticeship qualifications or standards range from levels 2-7. This is the equivalent of GCSE level up to master’s degree level. Apprenticeships are also available in a range of subjects and can develop individuals in many occupational competencies. These include but are not limited to, clinical apprenticeships such as nursing, advanced clinical practice, and radiography, and non-clinical apprenticeships such as senior leadership, clinical coding and facilities management.
Consider the following questions when developing your workforce plans.
- How can a scaled-up apprenticeship offer act as an enabler of your workforce strategy?
- How can apprenticeships enable you to meet key actions from the NHS People Plan, Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)?
- How can apprenticeships enable you to be more representative of the community you serve?
- Does your current apprenticeship offer align to the skills/talent pipeline you will need over the next five years?
- How can the introduction/use of apprenticeships tackle your key workforce challenges?
The HASO website also shows the range of apprenticeships you could include as part of your workforce strategy.