The college are able to assist you with your apprentice recruitment by both advertising your vacancy and by providing you with a basic apprentice advert template . We can provide a selection of templates relevant for each apprenticeship standard that we offer that includes the entry criteria needed by candidates to be able to undertake each apprenticeship programme.  Please contact our Employer Engagement Team for more details.

This depends on the apprenticeship programme your apprentice is enrolled on. Most Level 2 apprenticeships require the apprentice to attend college one day a week. We do however, deliver some Level 3 apprenticeships programmes online. 

We will work with you to decide how the off-the-job training will be delivered, depending on your apprentices' existing skills and knowledge. Please note that apprentices work all-year round, not just during college term dates.

The majority of your apprentice’s training and assessment is Government funded via the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) if you are a non-Levy paying employer. The amount you pay depends on the apprenticeship programme, the number of staff you employ, the age of your apprentice and whether they have any prior skills or knowledge relevant to the apprenticeship programme. If you are an employer with a pay bill (PAYE) of more than £3 million each year, your apprentice’s training cost will be covered via your apprenticeship levy. 

There may be additional fees if there is a retake for an assessment, emergency first aid, endpoint assessments or PA1 resit fees are incurred.

Further information on apprentice funding can be found here.

Apprenticeship Levy is an amount paid at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s annual pay bill and, as an employer, you have to pay Apprenticeship Levy each month if you:

• have an annual pay bill of more than £3 million
• are connected to any companies or charities for Employment Allowance purposes and have a combined annual pay bill of more than £3 million.

More information on how to pay this levy can be found here.

If you do not meet the criteria to pay the levy, further details on funding can be found here.

Before bringing an apprenticeship onboard, employers are required to create a Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS).

Click here to set up your DAS account.

End-point assessment (EPA) is the method used to to test the knowledge, skills and behaviours that an apprentice has gained during their training.  

Before an EPC can start, a Gateway must take place. This is where the employer and training provider will assess the apprentice to ensure they have met a set of minimum requirements which will enable them to move forward with the EPA.

To find out more about EPAs and Gateways, click here.