This type of apprenticeship is an ‘earn while you learn’ pathway which includes undertaking the relevant training and the academic degree course to become an AHP. You have to undertake a recognised programme of degree study with a University and pass this to go on to registered with the Health and Care Professions Council and then work as a registered AHP.
Not all AHP courses are offered as apprentices. You can explore which are here
Yes. Apprentices are employees (they work in this role for a health or care employer e.g. an NHS Trust or a local council). They have a contract for the duration of the course and work as a support worker. The apprenticeship is a joint offer by an employer and a University and it is employer led. This means you can only study for an apprenticeship if it is offered by an employer. The employer pays you a wage while you study as you will be working as a support worker and the employer pays your University fees.
You must be eligible to undertake a degree apprenticeship. This means you must have the right to work in the UK and meet the academic entry requirements for the degree you will study and you will definitely need to have at least a level 2 qualification in English and Maths (equivalent to O level grade C or above; or GCSE grade 4 or above).
Opportunities to undertake a degree apprenticeship in the NHS are usually advertised on NHS jobs you can use the search function and filter your search to an area e.g. London or a particular employer (NHS Trust) or they may be advertised internally first, with opportunities prioritised for staff already employed in the organisation.
Currently, the best way to gain access to a degree apprenticeship with an employer is to become a support worker first. Ideally, you would become a support worker in the profession that you wish to join through the degree apprenticeship route.
This is because most degree apprentices are recruited from the existing support workforce. Support worker roles are advertised on NHS jobs. Filter your search to your preferred location or employer; your preferred profession and look for band 3 or Band 4 roles.
Regardless of whether you are in an existing role wanting to undertake an AHP degree apprenticeship or looking for a new job as a degree AHP apprentice the entry requirements to undertake the course are the same as if you were to undertake the course though the normal university route. Each University and each course has slightly different entry criteria. You must be able to demonstrate you meet the University course entry criteria to be considered for an apprenticeship. These are usually 3 relevant A levels or other Academic level 3 qualifications e.g. T level in health.
Start by exploring the opportunities and ways to get what you need here Therese are particularly relevant if you are already employed as an AHP support worker and looking to progress. If you are in this situation speak with your line manager and learning and development team. They will be able to support you to plan your pathway. You can view the pathways to the professions that have a degree apprenticeships route here.
Currently apprenticeships can only be offered by changing an existing role to support this type of training route. This means the service and team must be able to keep running with no impact on business as usual while an individual employed in an existing role is supported to undertake an apprenticeship.
This is challenging because apprentices usually spend up to 6 hours a week away from the work place studying, and depending on which university they are studying at and the programme they are studying, they may need to spend up to 26 weeks on placement (away from their workplace) over the course of the apprenticeship. This means that during these periods there is no-one to cover the employees’ usual work and this can have a big impact on a service and other team members. Or it has a significant financial impact as the service has to use bank or agency workers to cover.
Unless there is a local solution to this challenge it can be a difficult for a manager to release a role for an apprenticeship. Most managers are very supportive of developing more apprenticeships posts but they have to balance how they can keep a service running while an employee has time away from work to study and to go on placement.
If you have more questions or your questions have not been answered here you may find this webpage helpful national health care apprenticeships on line platform
Helpful resource packs can also be downloaded from here
A member of my team has approached me and would like to undertake an AHP degree apprenticeship. Where do I start?
Always start by contacting you organisation’s apprenticeship lead and looking at your organisation’s apprenticeship policy. You may though need additional information.
There is a huge amount of information available to support you to help an employee to consider undertaking an apprenticeship and how you might do this in your team and your organisation. However, the feedback from colleagues is that there is so much information it is often difficult to find what is most helpful and relevant.
In North West London employers of AHPs have come together and produced a definitive guide for all you need to know putting all the information in one place. Additionally, this resource contains information that has been gathered from across the North West London Integrated System and represents a best practice ‘how to’ for delivering and supporting AHP apprenticeships in NW London.
Where possible consensus has been brokered in an attempt to provide equitable approaches to employing and supporting degree apprentices in North West London.
See the above sections.
You should also signpost your team members to the NW London AHP degree apprenticeship frequently asked questions in the above sections. These questions tackle some of the difficult questions such as why currently it is challenging to support the number of people looking for an AHP degree apprenticeships.
Other helpful resources and information
Skills for Health Apprenticeships FAQs
Skills for Health how to fund a salary