Background

These are my latest reflections on the impact COVID-19 has had on new higher and degree apprenticeship vacancies. It’s an update to the blogs I posted on 19^th and 26^th May.

The headline is that there has been a further downturn, although there is some cause for optimism. During the week of 25^th to 29^th May I recorded 10 new Degree Apprenticeship vacancies and 22 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies in England.

Findings

In the 10 weeks immediately prior to ‘lockdown’ (13^th January to 20^th March) I recorded:

• 1,004 new degree apprenticeships and 811 new higher apprenticeships giving a total of 1,815 and an average of 182 new vacancies each week.

In the 10 weeks since the start of lockdown (23^rd March to 29^th May) I have recorded:

• 206 new degree apprenticeships and 165 new higher apprenticeships giving a total of 371 and an average of 37 new vacancies each week.    

This represents an overall reduction of 80% in the number of new vacancies during the last 10 weeks, which is marginally worse than the overall reduction after 9 weeks (78%) and after 8 weeks (77%). However, last week was Spring Bank Holiday week, during which I would have expected activity to be slower, and I’m optimistic that we might see an improvement on this next week.  

Updated ‘league tables’

I have also updated my league tables in which I record the number of new vacancies in England broken down by what I loosely term ‘occupational areas’, which I find more useful in guidance than strictly adhering to the names of different  apprenticeship standards.

Since the ‘lockdown’ date of 23/3/20, the occupational areas represented in each category are now as follows (starting with the highest):

Degree apprenticeships

In total 25 occupational areas are represented so far and minimum starting salaries still range from £8,092 to £25,065pa.   

1^st Digital Technology Solutions* (current total – 50)

2^nd Accountancy & Taxation

3^rd Financial Services

4^th Chartered Management

5^th Control Engineers

6^th Data Scientists & Analysts

7^th Broadcast & Media Systems Engineers

8^th Chemical Engineers

9^th Building, Property & Valuation Surveyors

10^th Building Services Design Engineers

10^th Civil Engineers

10^th Food Technologists

10^th Mechanical, Product Design & Development Engineers

10^th Packaging Technologists

15^th Electronic Engineers

15^th Materials Scientists

15^th Quantity Surveyors

18^th Business to Business Sales Executive

18^th Cyber Security Technologist

18^th Environmental Practitioner

18^th Environmental Health Practitioner

18^th Laboratory Scientist

18^th Marketing Management

18^th Supply Chain Leadership

18^th User Experience (UX) Professional

*Digital Technology Solutions covers a range of specific fields such as Software Engineering, Network Engineering, Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Infrastructure Engineering or BIM (Building Information Modelling).

Higher apprenticeships:

In total 27 occupational areas are represented so far and minimum starting salaries still range from £6,474 to £29,000pa.

1^st Software Developers (current total – 29)

2^nd Project Management

2^nd Science Laboratory Technicians

4^th Data Analysts

5^th Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

5^th Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

7^th Investment Consultants

8^th Electrical Power Distribution

9^th Accountancy & Taxation

10^th Information Systems Business Analysts

10^th Network Engineers

10^th Software Testers

13^th Buying, Procurement & Supply Chain

14^th Cyber Security Officers

14^th Policy Officers

16^th HR/Learning & Development/Employability Practitioners

16^th Insurance Professionals

16^th Paraplanners

16^th Sales Executives

20^th Children, Young People & Family Practitioner

20^th Hospitality Management

20^th IT Support Professional  

20^th Learning & Skills Teacher

20^th Public Relations 

20^th Quantity Surveying Technician

20^th Regulatory Compliance Officer

20^th Revenue & Benefits Officer

Going forward

I will continue to observe how it pans out this week and I aim to post another update next Monday. In particular I expect to see degree apprenticeships in Policing represented for the first time, as I’m aware of at least one police force that has just opened recruitment. (Please note that the reference above to a higher apprenticeship for a Policy Officer isn’t a typo, it does mean Policy not Police.)

Watch this space for further updates.

© Alan Bullock, 1/6/2020