Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships at New Forest District Council - December 2019
The Council is proud of its commitment to apprenticeships. This is fully supported by our Leader and our Executive Management Team.
We do this in two ways:
By recruiting new employees as apprentices across our wide range of services
By providing and supporting apprenticeship training for our current employees
The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in 2017, and the Council pays 0.5% of our pay bill into the levy each year. We can draw down on our levy payments to fund apprenticeship training.
Since the introduction of the Levy, 36 people have undertaken apprenticeships with the Council; 26 of these have been undertaken by current employees and 10 as newly recruited apprentices to the Council. For our current employees the apprenticeships have helped them develop in their current roles, and all who have undertaken these confirm they have added value to their role as well as their personal development and confidence. Where possible and appropriate, the Council will seek out opportunities to secure further employment for our apprentices. Of the ten new employees who joined us as apprentices:
Five that have successfully completed have now gone on to secure permanent roles with us
One has transferred to a further apprenticeship with us
Two are currently undertaking their apprenticeship
Two left after successful completion of their apprenticeship to pursue other interests.
The table below shows this in detail:
Title, Level, Timeframe | Provider | Number of apprentices | Type of apprentice | Cost of apprenticeship |
Team Leader Level 3 Dec 17 - Oct 19 | Brockenhurst College | 4 | Current employees | £4,350 |
Business Admin Level 3 | Brockenhurst College | 2 | One new Apprentice, one transferred to Paralegal apprenticeship | £2,500 - £5,000 (prices increased over the 3 years) |
Customer Service Level 2 | Brockenhurst College | 1 | New Apprentice | £1,500 |
Sustainable Resource Management Level 2 | South West Regional Assessment Centre | 2 | New Apprentices | £1,500 |
Assistant Accountant | KAPLAN | 1 | New Apprentice | £9,000 |
Diploma & Foundation Degree in Management Level 5 | Solent University | 8 | Current employees | £9,000 |
Chartered Manager Degree - Level 6 | Solent University | 2 | Current employees | £13,500 |
Heavy Vehicle Maintenance & Repair - Level 3 | City of Bristol College | 1 | Current permanent employee (previous apprentice with us) | £6,000 |
Horticulture & Landscaping Level 2 | Sparsholt College | 1 | Apprentice | £5,000 |
Business Admin Level 2 | Brockenhurst College | 1 | Apprentice | £2,500 |
Building Control BSC Honours career path Degree | Wolverhampton University | 1 | Newly recruited Trainee | £12,000 |
Business Administration | Intech | 1 | Current employee | £5,000 |
Paralegal - Level 3 | CILEX Law School | 1 | Trainee post - previous apprentice | £9,000 |
Team Leader-Level 3 | Intech | 7 | Current employees | £4,500 |
Management Diploma - Level 5 | Solent University | 4 | Current employees | £5,000 |
* Please note that these fees were drawn down from the Council's levy payments, this shows the payments to the Levy are well utilised where possible.
As a public sector employer with over 250 staff, the government has set a target of employing an average of at least 2.3% of our workforce as apprentices each year. We must 'have regard' for this target.
Apprenticeship opportunities for new apprentice recruits or current staff are always given full consideration alongside alternative options to ensure this is the best development opportunity. In doing this, we look at the following factors:
The content of the relevant apprenticeship programme
The skills required by the apprentice and whether these can be met by the apprenticeship
The impact of the requirement to spend 20% of the working week 'off the job learning' - both on the employee and on the team
The mentoring and support that can be given in the workplace
Future opportunities to allow for the learning and development to be put into practice.
Please note: Some apprenticeships undertaken by existing staff last for longer than one year, which can often mean cohorts are not annual. This means that some years there will be many fewer current employees starting apprenticeships than others.
The table below shows NFDC reporting percentages:
NFDC reporting percentages | 2017 - 2018 | 2018 - 2019 |
Percentage of apprenticeship starts (both new and existing | 10.86 | 0.71 |
Percentage of total headcount that were apprentices on 31 March | 2.15 | 1.51 |
Percentage of apprenticeship starts (both new and existing employees | 1.96 | 0.17 |
All apprenticeship opportunities are advertised on our recruitment portal http://www.newforest.gov.uk/jobsapply
For further information, please contact HRAdvisoryTeam@nfdc.gov.uk
