Recruiting an apprentice: everything you need to know

If you are thinking of hiring apprentices for the first time, you may have a lot of questions. For example, what is involved in employing an apprentice? How do you choose between the various apprenticeship training providers? And how can you use the Apprenticeship Levy to pay for training in your business? In this article, we share our expertise and answer questions you may have around how to implement effective apprenticeships in your business.

What is an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships grow valuable skills in your business through a combination of on-the-job training and professional study. They are suitable for people at any stage of their career so you may want to look into apprenticeships whether you are hiring someone new or looking to upskill an existing employee. Available from level 2 to level 7 across a range of sectors, including finance, law and healthcare, many of BPP’s apprenticeship courses also include professional qualifications and additional certifications to ensure learners develop skills that are aligned to your business’ needs. 

How to employ an apprentice

Interested in recruiting an apprentice but unsure how to go about it? There are a number of different ways you can find the right candidate(s) for your business, for example you could:

• Hold open days

• Arrange visits to schools, colleges and universities

• Participate in careers events, like WorldSkills UK Live

• Use social media to share that you are hiring an apprentice

• Create a government apprenticeship service account and create an ad on their find an apprenticeship website.

What do I need to consider when hiring an apprentice?

With so many reported apprenticeship benefits, you may be keen to introduce this kind of training in your business as soon as possible. But before hiring apprentices, it is important to remember that, as the employer, you too will have a number of roles and responsibilities. First of all, when recruiting an apprentice, you will need to make sure that they:

• Are aged 16 or above

• Are not already in full-time education

• Work at least 30 hours per week, but no more than 40 hours per week

• Are living in England and spend at least 50% of their working hours in England over the duration of their apprenticeship.

Your responsibilities continue once you are employing an apprentice, as you need to make sure that you: 

• Provide a genuine job with a contract long enough for them to complete their apprenticeship (at least one year) 

• Have an apprenticeship agreement in place with the apprentice 

• Have a contract of services in place with your apprenticeship training provider 

• Have a commitment statement signed by you the employer, the apprentice, and the apprenticeship training provider

• Pay the apprentice the correct wage for their age for the time they are in work, in off-the-job training and completing further study 

• Log progress updates and average weekly hours your apprentice works with the apprenticeship provider. BPP provides a performance tracking dashboard to help with this  

• Check any changes to the apprentice’s working patterns with the apprenticeship training provider 

• Support the apprentice to gain the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to complete their course by giving them access to these development areas.

Benefits of apprenticeships for employers?

Professional apprenticeships allow your organisation to grow talent and develop a motivated, skilled and qualified workforce. They have been shown to offer a broad range of positive impacts, enabling businesses to:

• Quickly close any skills gaps through on-the-job training 

• Increase productivity and improve business performance by developing the skills of your workforce 

• Futureproof your organisation by build robust talent pipelines 

• Increase employee satisfaction by widening participation in learning and development

• Boost staff retention rates and reduce the spend on recruiting new hires 

• Champion inclusion and social mobility in your hiring and promotions process

• Diversify the talent pool you recruit from 

• Foster a more inclusive corporate culture.

To explore in more detail the benefits of apprenticeships, read our How do apprenticeships benefit your business? Insights page.

These claims around apprenticeship benefits are supported by research findings. For example, a survey of employers with an established apprenticeship programme reported that: 

• Productivity in the workplace had improved by 76% 

• 66% of employers have experienced improved staff morale

• 80% of employers have maintained or improved future skills in the business 

• 70% of employers have seen improvements in the quality of the goods/services they provide.  

Can apprenticeship training be funded by the Apprenticeship Levy?

Yes, the government Apprenticeship Levy scheme can help you to pay for apprenticeship training across all levels of your business. The amount of levy funding you can access depends on whether or not you pay the Apprenticeship Levy. If you are an employer with an annual pay bill over £3million, you have to pay the levy. You can then access your funds via the online apprenticeship service to spend on apprenticeship training for your workforce. If you are a smaller business with an annual pay bill under £3million, you do not have to pay the levy. You can however still access government support for apprenticeships in your organisation: you pay 5% of the cost of apprenticeship training and the government pays the remaining 95%. 

As you can see, levy funded apprenticeship training is a cost-effective way to upskill and reskill your workforce. The scheme is a great incentive that you can use to train, develop and retain talent in your organisation. 

How do I find an apprenticeship training provider for existing employees?

When comparing apprenticeship training providers, you may want to consider the following:

• Do they offer tailored courses that are designed around your business needs?

• Do they offer training in the specialist area(s) you need, for example courses to develop data skills or law apprenticeships?

• Do they provide courses across the full range of levels (level 2 to level 7) so that employees at all stages of their career can access development opportunities?

• Does the training provider have degree-awarding powers and/or do their apprenticeship courses incorporate professional qualifications?

• Do they provide support to you as the employer as well as to the learner?

• What methods do they use to teach the theoretical element of the apprenticeship? Do they offer flexible delivery methods to minimise disruption to day-to-day working?

The key is to find a comprehensive training provider that can offer a range of training solutions across multiple levels so that they can act as a ‘one stop shop’ for all your workforce training requirements. 

How can BPP help your business?

BPP can provide all of the above, and more. With over 45 apprenticeship standards on offer, we help you upskill and reskill employees across your entire organisation, supporting career development at any stage with our comprehensive range of programmes across accountancy and tax, data and digital, law, leadership and management, financial services, actuarial, and nursing.

For more information on how to recruit or upskill your employees through apprenticeships, view our programmes or contact one of our BPP advisors on 03300 603 100.