What an apprentice actually costs.

Skills shaped around your business, not someone else’s.

• The exact skills you need

  Apprentices learn on your equipment, in your processes and to your standards. You fill a skills gap instead of competing for scarce experienced hires in the same pool as everybody else.

• Loyal, long-serving staff

  People who start their careers with you tend to stay. Employers commonly report better retention after training through apprenticeships, and you avoid paying to recruit the same role repeatedly.

• A pipeline, not a patch

  Apprenticeships let you plan succession — replacing retiring experience with people who have learned from it directly, before it walks out of the door.

• Wider talent, and social mobility

  Recruiting at 16–18 reaches people who would never apply to a graduate scheme. It broadens who works for you and strengthens your standing in the local area.

• Fresh thinking

  School leavers bring digital confidence and new questions. A lot of employers find they usefully challenge the way it has always been done.

• Development for existing staff

  Experienced employees who mentor apprentices build coaching and leadership skills. The mentoring is a development opportunity in its own right, not just a cost.

From GCSE standard to a master’s degree.

• Level 2IntermediateAbout GCSE standard
• Level 3AdvancedAbout A level standard
• Levels 4–5HigherFoundation degree or HND
• Levels 6–7DegreeBachelor's or master's degree

Degree apprentices work for you while studying for a bachelor’s or master’s with a university. They come out with the degree, three to five years of real experience and no tuition debt; you get graduate-level skills developed around your organisation, in fields like engineering, digital, management, nursing, surveying and accountancy. Universities design the content with employers, so the theory lands on your work rather than in the abstract. They can be used to upskill existing staff as well as to recruit.

The five objections we hear most.

• “School leavers are too inexperienced.”

  Every experienced employee started somewhere. An apprenticeship comes with structured training, a mentor and an assessment plan, so the inexperience is planned for rather than absorbed. You are also training someone in your processes before they have learned anybody else’s.

• “They will leave as soon as they qualify.”

  Employers commonly report the opposite, particularly where there is a defined role to move into at the end. Someone who was trained by you, in your systems, with no debt and a clear next step has fewer reasons to go than an experienced hire you competed for on salary.

• “It is too expensive.”

  For 16–24s the training is funded for most employers, a hiring payment is available to eligible non-levy employers, and there is no employer National Insurance on most earnings under 25. Most of what is left is a wage you would be paying somebody anyway.

• “The admin is not worth it.”

  The training provider handles most of the training, assessment and paperwork. The genuinely fiddly part is the first-time setup — the account, the standard, the provider, the advert. That is the part we do for you, once, and then you have it.

• “Degree apprenticeships are only for big firms.”

  Small and medium employers run them too, and many universities have programmes designed specifically for SMEs. Size affects your funding route, not your eligibility.