Apprentices can be new or current employees aged over 16. They combine working with studying to gain skills and knowledge in a specific job.
Your apprentice must:
- work with experienced staff
- learn job-specific skills
- study during their working week (for example, at a college or training organisation)
- receive at least 20% off-the-job training (not necessarily away from the workplace)
- be employed for at least 12 months
- be paid at least the minimum wage, though we encourage payment of the London Living Wage
You can get government funding to cover much of the cost of training and assessing an apprentice.
There are 5 steps to take on an apprentice:
- Choose an apprenticeship standard for an apprenticeship in your industry and at a suitable level.
- Find an organisation that offers training for the apprenticeship standard you’ve chosen.
- Check what funding is available.
- Advertise your apprenticeship. Your appointed training organisation can do this for you through ‘Find an apprenticeship'.
- Select your apprentice and make an apprenticeship agreement and commitment statement with them.
If you do not want to hire and train the apprentice yourself, you can use a flexi-job apprenticeship agency. The apprentice will be employed by the agency but will work in your organisation.
