Week 122 Higher & Degree Apprenticeship overview – with more new regional data

Latest reflections

Thanks to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and a little more number-crunching on my part, the regional breakdowns that I provide have been further improved, adjusted and updated this week. Consequently, this part of my cumulative data is now more accurate and comprehensive than anything I’ve previously produced.

The North East and East Midlands have benefitted slightly from my adjustments after I found some small discrepancies in the methods I previously employed. Coincidentally the South West has also prospered to the extent that it has just overtaken the West Midlands, albeit marginally, as runner-up to London in my ‘regional rankings’. This is largely down to Bristol being a noticeably buoyant hub for post-18 apprenticeship vacancies, particularly around its northern fringes, and the city was especially prolific this week. Hence it’s also the location of my featured image from my photo collection.

From an occupational perspective Project Management Associate HAs were the week’s big winner and for the first time I recorded some DA vacancies for Insurance Professionals (11 in total) which until now were only available at Level 4 or 5.

My new Scottish data also progressed further this week, with 92 new vacancies now recorded. I’m looking forward to creating a separate occasional blogpost for Scotland by or before the end of the summer, with Wales and possibly Northern Ireland to follow in due course.

Updated 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.

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 there’s something of a mismatch between supply and demand in terms of volume (there aren’t enough to go around), location (just take a look at my regional breakdown) and the range of occupations available (which probably doesn’t align too well with student aspirations).

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. It’s also true that a significant proportion of DA and HA opportunities will be snapped up by older applicants and therefore work-readiness really matters to enable 18/19-year-olds to compete.

Headline data

During the latest period from 18^th to 24^th July 2022 I recorded:

54 new Degree Apprenticeship vacancies and
152 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies

In the 122 weeks since the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown (23^rd March 2020 to 24^th July 2022) I’ve now recorded:

13,795 new Degree Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
13,036 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 26,831

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 122 weeks since lockdown: 113 DAs + 107 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, I intend to keep my eye on the ball to see if things change further.

Updated analysis by county and region

By county, the 26,831 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since the start of lockdown have been distributed as follows:

Greater London (7,346)
Yorkshire (2,332)
West Midlands (1,615)
Greater Manchester (1,326)
Bristol & Gloucestershire (1,037)
Hampshire (924)
Berkshire (782)
Hertfordshire (667)
Surrey (588)
Nottinghamshire (551)
Tyne & Wear (507)
Cheshire (498)
Derbyshire (491)
Sussex (489)
Cambridgeshire (457)
Essex (451)
Warwickshire (443)
Lancashire (442)
Suffolk (421)
Merseyside (368)
Somerset & South Bristol (368)
Staffordshire (351)
Devon (345)
County Durham (328)
Wiltshire (323)
Leicestershire (307)
Kent (300)
Bedfordshire (299)
Oxfordshire (292)
Buckinghamshire (283)
Dorset (278)
Norfolk (269)
Cumbria (261)
Northamptonshire (260)
Lincolnshire (192)
Worcestershire (183)
Shropshire (127)
Cornwall (100)
Isle of Wight (43)
Northumberland (37)
Herefordshire (31)
Rutland (7)
Home working (31)
Not specified (81)

Fully revised & updated regional data: The table below shows how those stats add up regionally in the context of the 15-24 year-old population in each region, these figures having been made available via the very latest census data published by the ONS in June 2022. My comparisons have been further adjusted this week to accurately reflect the precise boundaries of each region. The data provides the following information:

The first number in bold is the latest cumulative number of vacancies for each region;
The big number in brackets shows the resident population of 15-24 year-olds in the region using the new ONS data and rounded to the nearest 100;
Then the third figure in bold indexes my apprenticeship figures against the 15-24 year-old population. The ‘index’ shows the combined number of DAs and HAs since March 2020 per 1,000 of that population and the regions are then ‘ranked’ accordingly:

7,346 London (1,078,600: 6.81)
2,470 South West (645,800: 3.82)
2,750 West Midlands (720,900: 3.81)
2,564 East of England (685,300: 3.74)
3,682 South East (1,040,500: 3.54)
2,345 Yorkshire & Humber (670,800: 3.50)
2,891 North West (884,600: 3.27)
1,762 East Midlands (593,700: 2.97)
909 North East (313,000: 2.90)
112 Not specified / Home working

26,831 Total England (6,633,200: 4.04)

Updated occupational analysis

Each week I update my occupational analysis by breaking down the new vacancies into what I loosely define as ‘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 13,795 new vacancies spread across 102 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £32,000pa. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

2,870 Police Constables

1,235 Digital Technology Solutions (general) *see below for details

1,071 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals

700 Software Engineers/Developers

689 Chartered Managers (general)

582 Nurses (472 Adult, 86 Mental Health, 19 Learning Disability, 5 Child)

535 Civil Engineers

453 Chartered Quantity Surveyors

410 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

408 Project Managers

324 Chartered Building/Property/Land Surveyors

275 Electrical/Electronic Engineers

271 Design & Development Engineers

259 Supply Chain Leaders

220 Food Technology/Production/Manufacturing Professionals

204 Digital Marketing Professionals

197 Cyber Security Professionals

173 Manufacturing Engineers

160 Nuclear Engineers/Scientists

149 Financial Services Professionals

143 Sales Professionals

133 Building Services Design Engineers

124 Professional Economists

123 Laboratory Scientists

119 Retail Leaders

117 Solicitors

113 Aerospace Engineers

109 Environmental Practitioners

101 Construction Managers

95 Network Engineers

92 Healthcare Science Practitioners (12 Cardiac Physiology, 11 Biomedical Science, 11 Nuclear Medicine Technology, 10 Medical & Clinical Engineering, 10 Neurophysiology, 8 Radiation & Radiotherapy Engineering, 8 Respiratory Physiology & Sleep Science, 7 Radiation & Radiotherapy Physics, 5 Audiology, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 3 Bioinformatics, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Specialist)

75 Hospital Operating Department Practitioners

75 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers

72 Digital User Experience (UX) Design Professionals

62 Control Engineers

60 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

46 Electro-Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineers

43 Materials Scientists/Technologists/Engineers

41 Radiographers (28 Diagnostic, 13 Therapeutic)

40 Hospitality Managers

40 Internal Audit Professionals

39 Town Planners

38 Manufacturing & Production Managers (non-food)

36 Clinical Trials Specialists

36 Occupational Therapists

33 Creative Digital Design Professionals

32 Broadcast/Media Systems Engineers

30 Recruitment Professionals

29 Podiatrists

28 Building Control Surveyors

27 Business Analysts

27 Social Workers

24 Chemical Engineers

24 Packaging Professionals

22 Transport Planners

21 Chartered Rural Surveyors

21 Project Control Professionals

20 Human Resources Professionals

19 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers

18 Environmental Health Officers

17 Architectural Technologists

17 Journalists

15 Architectural Assistants

15 Geotechnical Engineers

15 Professional Foresters

15 Public Health Practitioners

14 Junior Traders (Global Financial Markets)

14 Marketing Managers

13 GIS / Geospatial Mapping & Surveying Professionals

11 Insurance Professionals

11 Physiotherapists

9 Business Managers (Social Change)

8 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

8 Gas Transmission Engineers

8 Propulsion Engineers

6 Actuarial Professionals

6 Sport Development Officers

5 Chartered Legal Executives

5 Fire Safety Engineers

5 Operations Analysts

4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches

4 Compliance & Risk Specialists

4 Speech & Language Therapists

3 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Specialists

3 Buying & Procurement Professionals

3 Digital Transformation Engineers

3 Fitness/Leisure Centre Managers

3 TV Production Managers

2 Career Development Professionals

2 Education Technology Specialists

2 Midwives

2 Pensions Professionals

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

*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, SAP Analyst, User Experience Researcher, Junior Product Manager, Infrastructure Specialist, FinTech Specialist, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Digital Solutions Engineer, Systems Engineer, Automation Engineer, IT 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, Support Desk Analyst, IT Support Analyst, IT Service Desk Analyst, IT Technician, Computing Technician, 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 13,036 new vacancies spread across 130 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £35,000pa. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

1,240 Sales Executives

1,054 Software Developers

965 Data Analysts

940 Project Management Associates

901 Trainee Accountants / Accounting Technicians

459 School/Community Sports Coaches

372 Construction Site Supervisors

370 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

360 Nursing Associates

354 Business Analysts

312 Taxation Technicians

311 Network Engineers

275 Software Testers

248 Quantity Surveying Technicians

241 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

232 Retail Assistant Managers

219 Cyber Security Technologists

215 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

212 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

193 Building Services Engineering Technicians

188 Children/Youth/Family Practitioners

184 Buying & Merchandising Specialists

175 Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technicians

171 Technician Scientists

169 Government Policy Officers

155 Insurance Practitioners

145 Investment Operations Specialists

131 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

130 Marketing Executives

120 DevOps Engineers

110 Regulatory Compliance Officers

89 Early Years Lead Practitioners

82 Construction Design & Build Technicians

79 Junior Management Consultants

77 Food Technology/Engineering/Production Technicians

77 Nuclear Technicians

75 Healthcare Science Associates (18 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers, 15 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 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Tissue Retrieval)

75 Human Resources Specialists

73 Mineral Products Technicians

70 Quality Practitioners

67 Recruitment Resourcers/Consultants

59 Financial Advisers/Paraplanners

47 Healthcare Associate Practitioners (general/unspecified)

45 Adult Social Care Lead Practitioners

44 Hospitality Managers

44 Vehicle Damage Assessors

43 Actuarial Technicians

43 Internal Audit Practitioners

39 Brewers

37 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners

37 Intelligence Analysts

35 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

34 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

32 Automation & Control Engineers

31 Business Improvement Practitioners

31 Dairy Technologists

31 Learning/Skills & Development Practitioners

28 Journalists

28 Railway Engineering Technicians

26 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

23 Revenue & Welfare Benefits Officers

22 Operations Managers

21 Estate Agency Negotiators

21 Housing/Property/Lettings 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

12 Paralegals

11 Hygiene Specialists

10 Digital Community Managers

10 Football Coaches

10 Information Managers

9 Naval Architects / Marine Engineering Technicians

9 Railway/Passenger Transport Operations Managers

8 Acoustics Technicians

8 Emergency Medical Technicians

8 Film/TV Post-Production Technical Operators

7 Computer Games Developers

7 Counter Fraud Investigators

7 Employability Practitioners

6 Facilities Managers

6 Fire Safety Inspectors

6 School Business Professionals

5 Architectural Technicians

5 Market Research Executives

5 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment)

5 Visual Merchandisers

4 Aircraft Certifying Technicians

4 Gymnastics/Trampoline Coaches / Rebound Therapists

4 Unified Communications Trouble Shooters

3 Fashion & Textiles Technologists

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 Dental 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 Applications Support Lead

1 Chaplain

1 Chemical Process Technician

1 Clinical Coder

1 Community Energy Specialist

1 Community Safety Officer (Antisocial Behaviour)

1 Cultural Heritage Conservation Technician

1 Customs & Foreign Exchange Expert

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 during the summer, usually on Sundays or Mondays.

As from 1^st June I have also started to track Degree and Higher Apprenticeships in Wales and Northern Ireland and Level 6/7 apprenticeships in Scotland. I’ve always been very conscious that my blog only covers England and I intend to redress this with occasional reports starting soon.

https://alanbullockcareers.com/