What is an apprenticeship job and how do you get one?

Going to high school, faculty or college 5 days every week shouldn’t be your solely possibility if you wish to earn a qualification.

Tens of hundreds of younger individuals begin apprenticeships yearly – getting a wage and on-the-job expertise, in addition to time to coach and research.

But, with dropout charges at about 50% and concern about low pay, there’s a lot to contemplate when weighing up whether or not or not it’s for you.

Being an apprentice means you normally spend 4 days every week working, and someday learning for a qualification at work, faculty, college, or on-line.

You receives a commission a wage and the qualification you’re going to get is free – it’s paid for by the federal government and your employer.

Any employer can rent apprentices, and so they normally let you know what qualification they provides you with once they record the emptiness.

They are liable for ensuring you’re employed with skilled workers and obtain day without work for learning.

Since April, the federal government has paid small corporations the total price of apprenticeships for individuals aged 21 or underneath to assist small companies create extra apprenticeships.

There are totally different ranges of apprenticeship.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, they’re:

• Intermediate (Level 2 – GCSE normal)
• Advanced (Level 3 – A-level normal)
• Higher (Levels 4, 5, 6 and seven – basis diploma or above)
• Degree (Levels 6 and seven – bachelor’s or grasp’s diploma)

In Scotland, they’re:

• Foundation (largely SCQF Level 6 – Highers normal)
• Modern (largely SCQF Levels 6 and seven – Highers or Advanced Highers normal)
• Graduate (SCQF Levels 9, 10 and 11 – undergraduate or grasp’s diploma normal)

People typically do apprenticeships in the event that they know the profession they need, or if they’re already working of their chosen profession however need extra expertise.

The hottest apprenticeships for brand new starters between final August and this April have been in well being, public companies and care – adopted by enterprise, administration and regulation.

Some of the largest employers of latest apprentices in England within the final monetary 12 months have been the British navy, the civil service, and the pub and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers.

There are not any UK-wide figures for the variety of apprentices, however there have been 752,150 in England final 12 months – that’s larger than years with loads of Covid disruption, however decrease than it was within the mid-2010s.

Advanced apprenticeships – A-level normal – are the most well-liked.

The new authorities has promised to shake up the way in which apprenticeships are funded amid issues that the present system “has not delivered for younger individuals”.

Last 12 months, 23% of latest apprentices have been underneath 19, whereas nearly half have been 25 or older.

If you understand the place you need to work, you may head straight to the employer’s web site and apply.

You can seek for apprenticeship alternatives by totally different official web sites in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. If you might be in England, you can also make an account and apply to a number of apprenticeships in a single place.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) means that you can seek for vacancies and plans to permit you to apply for them.

You will interview for the apprenticeship earlier than you begin, and you’ll need to go an evaluation exhibiting what you’ve gotten discovered earlier than you may end.

If you might be underneath 19, or in case you are 19 or older however within the first 12 months of your apprenticeship, you might be entitled to the apprentice fee, £6.40 per hour.

Otherwise, you’ll earn at the least minimal wage:

• £8.60 for 19- and 20-year-olds
• £11.44 for these aged 21 or above

Apprentices in England earned £9.98 per hour on common in 2021, in accordance with a authorities report, and labored 37 hours every week – which incorporates time spent studying or coaching.

Average pay ranged from £8.23 per hour for Level 2 apprentices, to £15.11 per hour for non-degree apprentices at Level 6 and above.

The National Union of Students is campaigning for all apprentices to be paid at the least the National Living Wage – the £10.42 per hour fee.

Often apprenticeships are marketed with an annual wage.

On common, individuals in England who accomplished Advanced apprenticeships in 2014-15 earned £17,560 one 12 months later, and £22,880 5 years on.

In England, 54.6% of apprentices accomplished and handed a closing evaluation in 2022-23 – effectively under the federal government’s 67% goal by the tip of 2024-25.

A Department for Education report in March 2022 urged that 4 in 10 individuals who didn’t full their apprenticeship cited private causes, together with profession adjustments, psychological well being points, and caring tasks.

However, about 4 in 10 additionally mentioned they weren’t given sufficient time for coaching, that the coaching didn’t meet their expectations, or that the apprenticeship was badly run.

Ucas has warned that younger individuals are being delay by a spread of obstacles, together with:

• low pay
• lack of availability
• having to use for apprenticeships individually, reasonably than sending off one software to a number of employers

According to Ucas, 430,000 college students mentioned they have been thinking about apprenticeship alternatives in 2023 .

However, solely 189,430 apprenticeships have been printed on the official web site in England within the final educational 12 months.

The final authorities mentioned that was “nowhere close to sufficient” and launched an internet apprentice help centre.

Think laborious about what the apprenticeship presents – will the qualification assist you to progress within the profession you need? Can you image your self in a job within the business? What alternatives are there to progress on the organisation itself?

You will need to contemplate the place the apprenticeship is, how a lot you’re going to get paid, and the way lengthy it lasts. If you’ve gotten any questions, ask the employer.

It is essential to do your analysis, and ask employers for particulars about coaching in your interview. You may also learn evaluations of apprenticeships on websites like RateMyApprenticeship.co.uk.