Information for employers

Apprenticeships combine paid employment with practical in-work training and further education . They can support you to build a skilled and motivated workforce or help plug the skills gaps in your company.

Apprentices are usually employed for at least 30 hours a week. At least 20% of their working hours should be dedicated to training or studying.

The Institute for Apprenticeships sets out what makes a good apprenticeship in their Apprenticeship statement of quality [Word document].

Anyone aged 16 or over can be an apprentice. However, they must be employed for 30 hours per week. People employed for less hours could complete a part-time apprenticeship but this would take longer.. Apprentices can be a new or existing staff member.

Taking on an apprentice is a cost effective way to build and develop your team while keeping overheads down. Incentives and funding from the Government may also be available to help you do this.

Apprenticeships allow employers to train staff to their exact business needs. They can support staff retention by upskilling existing employees for more senior roles and canhelp to plug skills gaps.

They can also help boost standards within the workplace and may have a positive impact on your productivity, profitability and reputation.

Apprentices are paid employees. How much they are paid depends on their age and the stage of their apprenticeship:

·         People aged 16-18 and those aged 19 or over who are in the first year of their apprenticeship will receive the national minimum wage for apprentices

·         People aged 19 and over who have completed the first year of their apprenticeship will receive the national minimum wage or national living wage rate for their age.

Information about national minimum wage rates is available from the government. [external link]

If you are a non-levy paying employer you may also have to pay up to 5% towards training.

The funding available to you will depend on whether you are a levy or non-levy paying employer. 

• Levy paying employers have a yearly pay bill of over £3million and should already pay an apprenticeship levy each month. This levy money is used to fund the training and assessment of your apprentices
• Non-levy paying employers, with a yearly pay bill of less than £3million and 49 staff or fewer, are eligible for funding from the government. Training costs are fully funded for apprentices aged 16-21 and 95% of training costs will be funded for those who are 22 or older.

All employers will receive an incentive payment of £1,000 for apprentices aged 16-18 or 25 if they have an Education, Health and Care Plan, sometimes called an EHCP. Payments will be made from the training provider in two instalments of £500. You will get the first payment after 90 days and the second one after a year.

For businesses within the Tees Valley, grants are available for those which recruit an apprentice in a priority sector. For more information visit the Tees Valley Combined Authority website [external link] apprenticeship information.

For Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) registered organisations, vocational specific grants are also available for level 2 and 3 carpentry and joinery apprentices and level 2 wood product manufacturing operative apprentices. These include a

• £2,500 per year attendance grant
• £3,500 achievement grant upon completion.

Additional incentive payments and grants may also be available depending on the size of your organisation, geographical area and occupational sector. For more information please go to the gov.uk website [external link] 

We currently deliver more than 26 different apprenticeship courses in care, construction, customer services and administration, health and science, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing and teaching. 

We offer four different levels of apprenticeship:

• Intermediate - equal to five grade 4 (or grade C) GCSE passes.
• Advanced - equal to two A-level passes.
• Higher - equal to the first stages of higher education, such as a foundation degree.
• Degree - comparable to a Bachelors or Masters degree.

Take a look at Our Apprenticeship Courses page for more information.  TO LINK *****

Apprenticeship lengths vary depending on the course and level but typically take:

• 12 - 18 months (intermediate level)
• 18 – 24 months (advanced level)
• 3-6 years (higher and degree level)

The apprenticeship courses we deliver include regular in person teaching at one of our learning centres. This can be once per week, fortnight or month, depending on the course and your business needs.  In some cases, learning can be delivered remotely – for example if an apprentice is based outside the Tees Valley.

At the start of an apprenticeship we will host an initial meeting, to find out where the apprentice is on their career journey, where they want to end up andhow they think they can achieve their career goals. We will also identify any potential barriers which may impact their progress.

Apprentices will be required to meet and achieve key gateways throughout their apprenticeship.

We will send a monthly report to you via email and will conduct a formal progress review every 12 weeks. You can also contact tutors via Teams for immediate support, advice or feedback.

Before apprentices can undertake an end point assessment, a portfolio of evidence will need to be submitted. The end point assessment will then be carried out by an independent organisation. This will confirm the that the apprentice is competent and can perform all aspects of their role. For more information see Understanding end-point assessments [external link].

Towards the end of the course we will confirm whether you are able to support the apprentices continued employment or offer them additional opportunities . If not, or if the apprentice wishes to move on,  we will work with them to help them find work or access further education and training.

To speak to someone about offering an apprenticeship please contact Graham Curry, Learning & Skills Apprenticeships Manager, on 07949 845325 or email [email protected]

All employers hiring apprentices will need to have an apprenticeship service account. The Apprenticeship Service has a collection of simple videos to help you do this on their YouTube Playlist [external link]. We can support you with this if needed.

You will then need to:

• identify if you are a levy or non-levy paying employer
• create a Digital Apprenticeship Account (unless you already have one) and link this to Learning & Skills Darlington
• reserve funding for the apprenticeship
• advertise for new apprentices on the National Apprenticeship Service website (and Tees Valley Jobs [external link] if your business is local) - we can also offer support to help you recruit new apprentices.
• conduct interviews and inform us of successful applicants.

You may wish to offer some high-quality work experience to a Study Programme learner with a view to this potentially leading to an apprenticeship.

Please contact Graham Curry, Learning & Skills Apprenticeships Manager, on 07949 845325 or email [email protected]