Celebration of apprenticeships reaches a decade

In its 10th anniversary year, National Apprenticeship Week 2017 gives everyone involved in the apprenticeship community the perfect chance to celebrate individual stories of career progression over the last decade from traineeships through to higher and degree apprenticeships.

During the week, which carries the theme ‘ladder of opportunity’, employers and apprentices across the borough will come together to demonstrate the many benefits that apprenticeships can bring.

The week will also aim to encourage more employers to take on apprentices and individuals to choose an apprenticeship as a ladder of opportunity to a great career.

Sue Husband, director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said: “National Apprenticeship Week is a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate the many benefits of apprenticeships. Year-on-year I am overwhelmed by how many organisations get behind the week and show their support with the huge amount of events and activities that take place across the country. I have no doubt that this, our 10th Anniversary, will be our biggest and best week yet.”

And at this week’s Full Council meeting, Coun David Molyneux, deputy leader, said he was proud that the council niw emplys 294 apprentices, just one of the many organisations locally to embarce the scheme.

There has never been a better time to employ an apprentice, or start an apprenticeship.

Up to 28,000 apprenticeship vacancies are available online at any one time.

There were 1,656,680 on-line apprenticeship applications in 2015 to 2016.

Apprenticeships are available in 1500 job roles, covering more than 170 industries, from advertising to youth work and from environmental engineering to legal.

More than 2,600 employers are involved in designing the new apprenticeships standards.

270 apprenticeship standards have been published so far, of which over 84 are higher and degree apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship participation now stands at a record level - 899,400 funded apprentices participated on an apprenticeship in the 2015 to 2016 academic year.

Nearly all apprentices feel that they acquire or improve their skills as a direct result of their apprenticeship.

Apprentices are most satisfied with the relevance of their training (89%), the quality of training (87%), their assessment on the job (86%) and the quality of feedback (86%).

Almost nine out of every 10 apprenticeship employer hoping to achieve business benefits believes that apprenticeships deliver – including 75% reporting that it has helped their business improve the quality of their product or service.

There are currently 100 higher and degree apprenticeships available, with more in development, including foundation degrees, HNDs and full honours degrees. These include job roles ranging from legal services to banking and engineering.

After finishing, 7 in 10 apprentices (77%) stay with the same employer.

46% of apprentices had received a pay rise since completing their apprenticeship.

36% of higher apprentices report getting a promotion after completing their apprenticeship.

Nearly 9 out of 10 (89%) apprentices were satisfied with their apprenticeship overall, and nearly three quarters (72%) were very satisfied.

The majority (92%) of apprentices in work felt that their apprenticeship had had a positive impact on their career.

Traineeships have been developed by employers making them a great stepping stone to an apprenticeship or other job.

Traineeships are continuing to grow - there were 24,100 traineeship starts in 2015 to 2016.

94% of employers consider traineeships an effective way of increasing young people’s chances of finding paid jobs and apprenticeships.

Find out more about National Apprenticeship Week 2017, visit GOV.UK.