Week 117: Higher & Degree Apprenticeship cumulative vacancies – the story continues

Latest reflections

This was a solid if unspectacular week, but with plenty of intriguing little details.

As always I was careful to sift out vacancies that don’t meet my criteria. For example, those aimed at graduates or applicants with substantial prior experience, or repeat postings of vacancies that I’ve counted previously, usually land on the cutting room floor unless I feel their inclusion is justified. However, I did make an exception this week for 20 Nursing Associate apprenticeship positions across Dorset for which applicants need to have some experience in a healthcare support role, as I think it’s feasible that a strong applicant in their first year since leaving full-time education could have a reasonable shot at this. Hence, I’ve also picked out one of my Dorset photos as this week’s featured image.

I think one of the most striking aspects of my data right now, with a database of 25,700 new vacancies, is the sense of comparative scale you can get by scanning through the listings. As a guidance practitioner I’m intrigued to see which occupations have reached three or even four figures during my reporting period, but at the same time it’s also interesting to see what’s emerging amongst those with more modest numbers. The gradual rise of various health professions is a case in point and this week also saw some more vacancies related to fields as diverse as mineral products, space, acoustics, environmental health, town planning (again), geotechnics, supply chain, food technology, brewing, recruitment, regulatory compliance, intelligence analytics, internal auditing, business improvement, corporate responsibility, social change and yet more school/community sports coaches.

Meanwhile, my new data on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is taking shape too and I aim to start publishing it in the near future, albeit on a limited basis initially.

Background

Since the first ‘lockdown’ started on Monday 23^rd March 2020, I’ve kept a record of new higher and degree apprenticeship vacancies posted in England and in doing so have built up an evolving occupational and regional analysis. I largely use data extracted every week from the government’s ‘Find an Apprenticeship’ website, whilst also keeping an eye on other national vacancy sources, especially NHS Jobs, Not Going to Uni, Rate My Apprenticeship and Investment 20/20.

I collated similar data for a period of 70 weeks prior to the March 2020 lockdown and my weekly headline data compares the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown figures, using the two 70-week periods either side of lockdown as a benchmark.

My target audience is Level 3 school and college leavers and those who influence and advise them. Therefore, I only include vacancies at Levels 4 to 7 that ‘work-ready’ 18/19-year-olds seeking their first permanent role could reasonably apply for, whether at the point of leaving school/college or after a few months of temporary experience. If more than a year’s permanent experience is clearly required, I don’t normally include the vacancy in my figures.

I would emphasise the term ‘work-ready’ because academic qualifications alone will never be enough to compete successfully for a higher or degree apprenticeship. Whilst a UCAS points score of around 112 is often needed for DAs (sometimes more, sometimes less), it’s otherwise much more about the skills, qualities and insights you can bring. STEM subjects will also put potential applicants at a significant advantage in terms of opening up a wider range of options.

My data will never be fully reliable because not all vacancies are advertised nationally in a way that also gives an indication of actual numbers and locations. However, the analyses that I’ve built up paint an intriguing picture of what’s out there in a changing post-18 career landscape. The figures also suggest that supply is never likely to match demand and that there may be something of a mismatch between the occupations to which young people often aspire and the reality of what’s available.

One further and slightly confusing factor to take into account is that it’s quite normal for some 18/19-year-old school/college leavers to apply for lower level apprenticeships too, especially at Level 3. In fact I sometimes see Level 3 apprenticeships that ask for A Level or equivalent qualifications and Level 4 to 7 apprenticeships that don’t. It’s also true that a significant proportion of opportunities will be snapped up by older applicants. It’s a competitive market place, so work-readiness really matters.

Headline data

During the latest period from 13^th to 19^th June 2022 I recorded:

91 new Degree Apprenticeship vacancies and
153 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies

In the 117 weeks since the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown (23^rd March 2020 to 19^th June 2022) I’ve now recorded:

13,362 new Degree Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
12,338 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 25,700

Using the 70 weeks either side of the initial lockdown (on 23/3/20) as a benchmark, my latest comparative figures are as follows:

Weekly average in the 70 weeks before lockdown: 82 DAs + 71 HAs = 153 total
Weekly average in the 70 weeks after lockdown: 84 DAs + 75 HAs = 159 total
Weekly average in the 117 weeks since lockdown: 114 DAs + 106 HAs = 220 total

This shows that both DAs and HAs have more than fully recovered since the initial reductions in the early days of the pandemic. Whilst it’s fair to say that I’m being more thorough in the way I track down and monitor new vacancies than I was in pre-COVID days, I’m definitely seeing an upward trend in volume compared with how things looked two to three years ago. That said, with talk of economic turbulence ahead, I intend to keep my eye on the ball to see if things change.

Updated regional analysis

The 25,700 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since the start of lockdown have been distributed as follows:

Greater London (7,159)
Yorkshire (2,255)
West Midlands (1,550)
Greater Manchester (1,269)
Bristol & Gloucestershire (962)
Hampshire (864)
Berkshire (751)
Hertfordshire (651)
Surrey (585)
Nottinghamshire (516)
Tyne & Wear (495)
Cheshire (472)
Sussex (472)
Cambridgeshire (437)
Essex (435)
Lancashire (430)
Warwickshire (425)
Suffolk (412)
Merseyside (363)
Derbyshire (358)
Devon (335)
Staffordshire (327)
County Durham (324)
Somerset & South Bristol (315)
Wiltshire (314)
Leicestershire (299)
Bedfordshire (292)
Kent (288)
Buckinghamshire (269)
Oxfordshire (266)
Dorset (266)
Norfolk (263)
Cumbria (254)
Northamptonshire (252)
Worcestershire (177)
Lincolnshire (173)
Shropshire (110)
Cornwall (96)
Isle of Wight (43)
Northumberland (35)
Herefordshire (31)
Rutland (5)
Home working (24)
Not specified (81)

The following list shows how those stats add up regionally. In brackets I’ve included the total population of each region using the latest ONS data rounded to the nearest 1,000, which gives a sense of proportion to the apprenticeship figures. For example, in population terms the North East is by far the smallest region, so the differences in apprenticeship numbers are not quite as disproportionate as they might appear. (In my data Yorkshire includes North Humberside and East Midlands includes South Humberside.)

To place this into sharper perspective, I’ve added an extra stat in bold which indexes the apprenticeship figures against the total population of each region. In effect, the index equals the number of DAs and HAs post-lockdown per 10,000 of total population. Clearly London outperforms the rest of England by quite a wide margin, but I think it’s interesting to view the bigger picture too.

7,159 London (8,962,000: 7.99)
3,538 South East (9,180,000: 3.85)
2,784 North West (7,341,000: 3.79)
2,620 West Midlands (5,934,000: 4.42)
2,490 East of England (6,236,000: 3.99)
2,288 South West (5,625,000: 4.07)
2,255 Yorkshire (5,503,000: 4.10)
1,603 East Midlands (4,836,000: 3.31)
858 North East (2,670,000: 3.21)
105 Not specified / home working

Updated occupational analysis

Each week I update my occupational analysis by breaking down the new vacancies into what I loosely term ‘occupational areas’, which in some cases differ from the official apprenticeship standards terminology. Since the start of lockdown in March 2020, the complete lists of occupational areas represented in each category are given below. In my view, this provides a fascinating insight into what the emerging occupations are in a changing landscape.

Degree Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7):

In total there have been 13,362 new vacancies spread across 101 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £32,000pa. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

2,870 Police Constables

1,220 Digital Technology Solutions (general) *see below for details

1,053 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals

687 Software Engineers/Developers

628 Chartered Managers (general)

558 Nurses (461 Adult, 76 Mental Health, 16 Learning Disability, 5 Child)

519 Civil Engineers

430 Chartered Quantity Surveyors

416 Project Managers

403 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

324 Chartered Building/Property/Land Surveyors

270 Electrical/Electronic Engineers

268 Design & Development Engineers

255 Supply Chain Leaders

213 Food Technology/Production/Manufacturing Professionals

190 Cyber Security Professionals

189 Digital Marketing Professionals

169 Manufacturing Engineers

149 Financial Services Professionals

139 Sales Professionals

124 Professional Economists

122 Building Services Design Engineers

122 Laboratory Scientists

119 Retail Leaders

116 Solicitors

113 Aerospace Engineers

106 Environmental Practitioners

100 Construction Managers

95 Network Engineers

82 Healthcare Science Practitioners (11 Biomedical Science, 11 Cardiovascular Physiology, 10 Medical & Clinical Engineering, 10 Neurophysiology, 8 Nuclear Medicine, 7 Radiation & Radiotherapy Engineering, 6 Respiratory Physiology & Sleep Science, 6 Radiation Physics, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 3 Bioinformatics, 2 Audiology, 1 Medical Physics, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Specialist)

74 Hospital Operating Department Practitioners

74 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers

70 Digital User Experience (UX) Design Professionals

67 Nuclear Engineers

61 Control Engineers

60 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

45 Electro-Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineers

40 Hospitality Managers

40 Internal Audit Professionals

40 Radiographers (28 Diagnostic, 12 Therapeutic)

39 Materials Scientists/Technologists/Engineers

38 Manufacturing & Production Managers (non-food)

37 Town Planners

32 Broadcast/Media Systems Engineers

32 Creative Digital Design Professionals

30 Occupational Therapists

30 Recruitment Professionals

28 Podiatrists

27 Clinical Trials Specialists

27 Social Workers

24 Business Analysts

23 Packaging Professionals

22 Chemical Engineers

21 Transport Planners

20 Human Resources / People Professionals

19 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers

18 Chartered Rural Surveyors

18 Environmental Health Officers

17 Architectural Technologists

17 Journalists

15 Professional Foresters

14 Building Control Surveyors

14 Junior Traders (Global Financial Markets)

13 Architectural Assistants

13 GIS / Geospatial Mapping & Surveying Professionals

13 Marketing Managers

13 Public Health Practitioners

11 Physiotherapists

9 Business Managers (Social Change)

9 Geotechnical Engineers

9 Project Control Professionals

8 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

8 Gas Transmission Engineers

8 Propulsion Engineers

6 Actuarial Professionals

5 Operations Analysts

5 Sport Development Officers

4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches

4 Chartered Legal Executives

4 Compliance & Risk Specialists

4 Fire Safety Engineers

3 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Specialists

3 Digital Transformation Engineers

3 Fitness/Leisure Centre Managers

3 TV Production Managers

2 Buying & Procurement Professionals

2 Education Technology Specialists

2 Midwives

2 Pensions Professionals

2 Speech & Language Therapists

2 Tax Technologists

1 Brewer

1 Charity Manager

1 Community Centre Manager

1 Events Manager

1 Facilities Manager

1 Human Performance Engineer

1 Marine Engineer

1 Population Health Intelligence Analyst

1 Prosthetist & Orthotist

1 Visual Merchandiser

*Digital Technology Solutions (general) has encompassed or led to the following range of specialisms:

Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Tester, Network Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Global Data Analyst, Data Architect, Network Architect, Enterprise Architect, Cyber Security Specialist, IT Consultant, Solutions Consultant, Software Implementation Consultant, Software Consultant, Project Manager, Project Co-ordinator, Business Intelligence Specialist, Business Systems Engineer/Developer, Automation Developer, Automation Test Developer, Full Stack Developer, Digital Developer, Solutions Architect, Technology Architect, Technology Manager, Innovation Technologist, Innovation Design Analyst, Agile Analyst, Application Support Analyst, Technical Support Analyst, Business Analyst, Global Mobility Analyst, Content Analyst, Security Operations Analyst, Process Mining Analyst, User Experience Researcher, Junior Product Manager, Infrastructure Specialist, FinTech Specialist, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Digital Solutions Engineer, Systems Engineer, Automation Engineer, Support Engineer, Service Desk Engineer, Cloud Engineer, Sales Engineer, Sales Account Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Scientific Computing Specialist, Platform Manager, Service Manager, Engineering Information Manager, Amazon Web Services Specialist, Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition Specialist, Fixed Telecoms Specialist, IT Support Analyst, IT Service Desk Analyst, Support Desk Analyst, WordPress Developer, Technology Operations & Service Delivery Specialist, Functional Consultant, Technical Consultant, Digital Manufacturing Engineer, Electronic Systems Design & Development Engineer, Solution Engineering & Development Specialist, Client Delivery Specialist, Client Success Specialist, Client Consultant, Operations Resilience & Change Specialist, Innovation Foundry Specialist, Continuous Improvement & Automation Specialist and Railway Signalling Control Systems Specialist.

That’s some list and it keeps growing.

Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5):

In total there have been 12,338 new vacancies spread across 126 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £35,000pa. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

1,180 Sales Executives

1,009 Software Developers

922 Data Analysts

881 Project Management Associates

864 Trainee Accountants / Accounting Technicians

402 School/Community Sports Coaches

350 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

337 Construction Site Supervisors

332 Nursing Associates

323 Business Analysts

291 Taxation Technicians

286 Network Engineers

261 Software Testers

238 Quantity Surveying Technicians

230 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

230 Retail Assistant Managers

209 Cyber Security Technologists

207 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

206 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

188 Children/Youth/Family Practitioners

183 Building Services Engineering Technicians

183 Buying & Merchandising Specialists

174 Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technicians

168 Government Policy Officers

168 Technician Scientists

150 Insurance Professionals

133 Investment Operations Specialists

131 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

125 Marketing Executives

110 DevOps Engineers

99 Regulatory Compliance Officers

83 Early Years Lead Practitioners

77 Junior Management Consultants

77 Nuclear Technicians

73 Construction Design & Build Technicians

73 Food Technology/Engineering/Production Technicians

73 Healthcare Science Associates (18 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers, 14 Cardiorespiratory & Sleep Physiology, 13 Bio/Medical Engineering, 8 MRI Radiography, 6 Genetics Technology, 4 Mammography, 4 Speech Therapy, 2 Medical Physics, 2 Phlebotomy, 1 Biochemistry, 1 Tissue Retrieval)

73 Mineral Products Technicians

71 Human Resources Consultants/Partners

63 Quality Practitioners

62 Recruitment Resourcers/Consultants

58 Financial Advisers/Paraplanners

47 Healthcare Associate Practitioners (general)

44 Adult Social Care Lead Practitioners

44 Hospitality Managers

39 Brewers

37 Intelligence Analysts

35 Actuarial Technicians

35 Vehicle Damage Assessors

34 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

34 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

32 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners

31 Dairy Technologists

30 Business Improvement Practitioners

30 Learning/Skills & Development Practitioners

28 Internal Audit Practitioners

28 Journalists

26 Automation & Control Engineers

26 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

25 Railway Engineering Technicians

22 Revenue & Welfare Benefits Officers

21 Estate Agency Negotiators

21 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

20 Operations Managers

15 Smart Energy Engineers

14 Countryside Rangers

14 Fibre Cable Engineers

14 Police Community Support Officers

12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

12 Land Referencers

12 Logistics Specialists

10 Digital Community Managers

10 Hygiene Specialists

9 Naval Architects / Marine Engineering Technicians

9 Railway/Passenger Transport Operations Managers

8 Acoustics Technicians

8 Emergency Medical Technicians

8 Information Managers

8 Paralegals

8 Post-Production Technical Operators (Film/TV)

7 Computer Games Developers

7 Employability Practitioners

6 Facilities Managers

6 Fire Safety Inspectors

6 Football Coaches

6 School Business Professionals

5 Architectural Technicians

5 Counter Fraud Investigators

5 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment)

4 Conveyancing Technicians

4 Market Research Executives

4 Unified Communications Trouble Shooters

3 Fashion & Textiles Technologists

3 Gymnastics/Trampoline Coaches

3 Pensions Administrators

3 Port Marine Operations Officers

3 Senior Culinary Chefs

3 Space Engineering Technicians

3 Sports Development Officers

3 Utilities Technicians

2 Arboriculturists

2 Auctioneers

2 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Technicians

2 Early Intervention Practitioners

2 Historic Site Advisers

2 Music Recording Technicians

2 Tax Technology Technicians

2 Town Planning Assistants

2 VFX Artists

2 Water Recycling Engineers

1 Chaplain

1 Chemical Process Technician

1 Clinical Coder

1 Community Energy Specialist

1 Community Safety Officer (Antisocial Behaviour)

1 Dental Technician

1 Digital Accessibility Specialist

1 Fitness Club Manager

1 Fitness Instructor

1 Horticultural / Landscape Design Practitioner

1 Lighting Designer

1 Metrology Technician

1 Payroll Assistant Manager

1 Tennis Coach

1 Wedding Accessories Designer

1 Wedding Venue Co-ordinator

Going forward

All being well I will continue posting frequent updates, usually on Sunday nights.

As from 1^st June I have also started to track Degree Apprenticeships in Wales and Northern Ireland and their equivalent in Scotland (Graduate Apprenticeships). I’ve always been very conscious that my blog only covers England and I hope to redress this if I can successfully build up enough useful data.