Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships represent excellent value for money as they are, in most instances, exempt from National Minimum Wage and National Insurance Contributions at least for the first 12 months of the Apprenticeship. This gives you the opportunity to train and develop Apprentices, ensuring maximum productivity by the end of the programme.

However, you can set your own starting salary over and above the National Minimum Wage for Apprentices based on what you would like to offer. You can even include regular salary reviews based on performance/target setting etc. if you feel it appropriate to do so.

National Minimum Wage inc Apprenticeship rate.

All Apprentices must be in ‘full-employed status’ and as such, need to be employed for at least 30 hours per week (this can include time spent in College). Apprentices are paid for their time spent in College.

Craven College offers a wide range of Apprenticeships which are regularly reviewed to meet local business demand. A full list of our current Apprenticeship provision and costings can be viewed HERE 

If you are looking for an Apprenticeship that is not listed, please contact us.

Our comprehensive service will:

• Offer a wide range of Apprenticeships and help you decide which one best fits your business needs
• Assign an Apprenticeship Co-ordinator who will be your point of contact right through from recruitment of an Apprentice to the achievement of their qualification
• Manage the recruitment process and advertise your vacancy, screen all applicants and provide you with a number of suitable candidates for you to shortlist, interview and even trial before appointing someone
• Plan and design training to meet the needs of your business and those of the individual, providing additional support and bespoke programmes where required
• Monitor Apprentice progress and provide regular feedback to the individual and the employer at least every 12 weeks
• Appoint experienced assessors and tutors with excellent knowledge and working experience of the relevant industry to deliver the framework or standard your Apprentice is working towards
• Organise End Point Assessments
• Provide ongoing support, information and guidance throughout the process and help any existing staff within your organisation that may benefit from this or other training

Please refer to our information about Apprenticeship Funding

An Apprenticeship will usually take anything from 12 to 24 months at Level 2 and a direct Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship could take up to three years. Higher and Degree Apprenticeships can take anything between 2 to 5 years. The competence based elements are quite flexible and can be fast tracked depending on level of experience and commitment.

To be eligible for an Apprenticeship the candidate must:

• Be 16 years or over
• Be employed within the same industry as their chosen Apprenticeship and be working at least 30 hours per week (this can include time spent in training)
• Be a citizen of the EU or resident in the UK for at least three years
• Apprenticeships are available to new or existing members of staff

Eligibility for funding will be subject to previous qualifications held. A candidate cannot be funded to do an Apprenticeship if they already hold a similar vocational qualification at the same level or above.

Contact us to arrange an initial meeting to clarify your needs and enable you to find out more about our Apprenticeships.

Email us at apprenticeships@craven-college.ac.uk or call us on 07156 693 681.