Why should my business consider an apprenticeship programme through the University of Greenwich?
Greenwich apprenticeships allow you to train and retain high-quality employees who can drive your business forward.
By enrolling an apprentice on a nationally accredited programme with us, you will:
- Grow and retain your own talent, upskilling where you need it most
- Supercharge your productivity – business who offer apprenticeships can see significant increases in productivity and innovation
- Help shape your business’ future with tailored training
- Use your Apprenticeship Levy and reduce your recruitment costs
- Equip apprentices with the specific knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to do their job successfully
- Boost your industry reputation as a forward-thinking employer – and make your business an even more attractive destination for job seekers
- Be confident apprentices are studying at an award-winning university with world-class facilities
- Diversify your team and drive positive social mobility.
We will act as a trusted partner to help you recruit the right apprentice and promote the programme to learners. Throughout the process and programme, we will offer you comprehensive and ongoing support to meet your needs and help ensure each apprentice succeeds.
Email us at apprenticeships@gre.ac.uk.
Apprenticeships in action
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As the Trust-wide lead on apprenticeships at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Nigel Hogg knows all about the many benefits that degree apprenticeships can offer an organisation.
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As the commercial director of Stanmore Contractors Limited, Matthew Brunt is a strong believer in the value of degree apprenticeships to successful organisations like his own.
What do I need to know?
- To offer apprenticeships, you'll need to provide your apprentices with a formal contract of employment and pay them a salary that's at least the same as the minimum wage. The contract will need to be long enough to cover the duration of the apprenticeship programme, including the EPA period
- Apprentices must spend at least 20% of their contracted hours in learning, usually away from their normal day-to-day work environment. This also applies in periods when they won't be attending taught sessions at the university, such as during the summer break.
- To be eligible for an apprenticeship, apprentices need to meet the requirements of the funding rules, which currently include, having lived in the UK/EEA for three years prior to the start of their apprenticeship, they must spend 50% of their working time in England and they must also have the right to work in the UK.
- We'll carry out an initial assessment with apprentices to ensure they meet the level of English and Maths required to complete the degree. We offer extra support to apprentices with learning difficulties, and all apprentices get access to personal and academic support services.
Employer journey
Download our handy apprenticeship journey map for employers. You can also read the journey steps below.
Key steps on an employer's journey
1. Identify your business needs
Begin by looking closely at your current workforce and assess where an apprenticeship could help fill skills gaps and support your business strategies. Our team can help you with this, as we have years of experience you can call upon.
2. Plan and research
Speak to our team about how apprenticeships could help your business.
We can discuss:
- What apprenticeships are
- How they are funded and how you can strategically use your Apprenticeship Levy to gain the most value
- How they work in practice
- How the Greenwich apprenticeships are bespoke programmes for industry.
3. Recruit
Start to recruit the best candidates for your apprenticeship. This can include both new and current employees. Our team can help advise you on this process.
4. Coordinate with our team
As a trusted partner, we will help you recruit the right apprentice for you and promote the programme to learners. We will offer you comprehensive and ongoing support to meet your needs and help ensure each apprenticeship succeeds.
From the start of their programme, we will outline the apprenticeship standard the apprentice is expected to meet. We will use this as the basis for planning their training and learning.
We will also explain how we will work with you during the apprenticeship programme and end-point assessment.
5. Fulfil your responsibilities as an employer
We will support you to fully engage with the programme and meet your responsibilities as an employer. You must:
- Provide the apprentice with a genuine job
- Pay them a fair wage that is at least consistent with the law
- Make sure they work with experienced staff
- Allocate them a workplace mentor
- Ensure they learn job-specific skills
- Give them protected off-the-job training during their normal working hours and pay them for it
- Make sure they can access all aspects of the apprenticeship standard they are studying
- Attend progress reviews every 10-12 weeks to engage with your apprentice’s progress throughout the programme
- Engage with the training provider on your apprentice’s progress throughout the programme
- Regularly review the apprentice’s progress through feedback and formal reviews
- Confirm apprentices are ready for their end-point assessment.