Latest reflections on the situation in England

Most of this week was rather quiet, but then it sprang to life on Thursday and Friday thanks mainly to J.P.Morgan, Mott MacDonald and Dentons solicitors.

JPM posted a further 40 DAs for September 2024, with the latest batch of vacancies located at their Canary Wharf offices in London. These included 30 DAs in Financial Services and 10 in Digital Technology, supplementing the 70 vacancies (50 Financial Services and 20 Digital) posted last month at their Bournemouth office. As in previous years the degree partner for all the JPM DAs at both locations is Exeter Uni.

I’ve had some exposure to JPM’s apprenticeships myself, having worked with a client who secured one in Bournemouth and having also met some of their London apprentices at a past Career Guidance Show at Olympia. One of the JPM apprentices told me: “they like you to be confident but not over-confident”, which has stuck with me ever since. JPM were active in Scotland this week too, with 20 new Graduate Apprenticeships in Software Development (see below).

Engineering, infrastructure and development specialists Mott MacDonald was the second notable DA provider with a batch of September 2024 vacancies in which Chartered Surveying roles (a mixture of Quantity Surveying and Project Management) were particularly prominent, along with a few in Building Services and Civil Engineering and one DA in Town Planning. While their vacancy numbers are modest, they’re nicely scattered across a range of cities from Exeter to Newcastle. Law firm Dentons also joined the fray late in the week with five Solicitor DAs in London.

Meanwhile, the HA highlight was something rather different and it also led to my choice of photo for this week’s featured image. It came in the form of a small batch of vacancies for Healthcare Assistant Practitioners that I picked up from the NHS Jobs website, which I check out on a frequent and regular basis as it’s such a valuable source. The vacancies in question were for Podiatry Assistants located across Oxfordshire. Podiatry DAs have been trickling in steadily for the past three or four years, but this is the first time I’ve come across Associate Practitioner HA roles for Podiatry Assistants and furthermore they made specific mention of school/college leavers being encouraged to apply. With the vacancies spread across the county and bounded by the towns of Henley, Wantage, Witney and Bicester, it prompted me to select a photo I took from a bridge over the delightful and rather gentle Oxford Canal a few years ago.

Otherwise it was a slow week, but I’m expecting to see a few more of the big players come on stream before the end of the month. Watch this space!         

Latest update on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Having also tracked vacancies in the three devolved nations since 1^st June 2022, my latest running totals are as follows:

• Scotland: 744 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
• Wales: 146 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 162 at Levels 4/5
• Northern Ireland: 177 vacancies at Levels 4 to 7

In an otherwise quiet week, the outstanding highlight was J.P.Morgan’s  20 new Software Developer vacancies in Glasgow, with Strathclyde Uni being their degree partner.

I’m aiming to publish an 18-month Scotland update at the end of November, and hopefully a Wales one too. I will also create a report for Northern Ireland if and when my NI data justifies it.    

Background (newly edited)

Since 1^st January 2020 I’ve kept a record of degree and higher apprenticeship vacancies posted in England and in doing so have built up an evolving occupational and regional analysis. I largely use data extracted daily from the government’s ‘Find an Apprenticeship’ website, whilst also keeping a very close eye on other national vacancy sources.

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 gaining up to a year’s temporary experience.    

I use the term ‘work-ready’ because academic qualifications alone are never enough to compete successfully for a higher or degree apprenticeship. A UCAS points score of 112 is the most frequently quoted minimum entry requirement for DAs (sometimes more and often less), but it’s otherwise much more about the skills, qualities and insights an applicant 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. For that reason and others my reports always come with flaws, caveats and some editorial licence. However, I think the analyses I’ve built up paint a unique, intriguing and representative picture of what’s out there in a changing post-18 career landscape, as well as conveying a fairly realistic sense of comparative scale from both an occupational and regional perspective. 

Headline data

In England during the latest period from 9^th to 15^th October 2023 I recorded:

• 93 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
• 66 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 159 for the week

In the 198 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 15^h October 2023 I’ve now recorded:

• 27,425 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
• 22,278 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 49,703

The average weekly totals across all 198 weeks have been:

• 138 DAs + 113 HAs = 251 average weekly total 

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 49,703 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

• Greater London (11,629)
• Yorkshire (4,450)
• West Midlands (3,208)
• Greater Manchester (2,838)
• Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,279)
• Hampshire (1,694)
• Berkshire (1,638)
• Hertfordshire (1,236)
• Surrey (1,149)
• Cheshire (1,038)
• Tyne & Wear (979)
• Nottinghamshire (959)
• Derbyshire (946)
• Cambridgeshire (940)
• Sussex (901)
• Merseyside (827)
• Essex (823)
• Suffolk (780)
• Devon (753)
• Lancashire (727)
• Buckinghamshire (692)
• Somerset & South Bristol (664)
• Dorset (656)
• Cumbria (645)
• Kent (645)
• Warwickshire (639)
• Oxfordshire (594)
• Leicestershire (590)
• Staffordshire (589)
• Wiltshire (586)
• Bedfordshire (527)
• County Durham (474)
• Northamptonshire (411)
• Cornwall (397)
• Norfolk (374)
• Worcestershire (370)
• Lincolnshire (345)
• Shropshire (308)
• Northumberland (71)
• Isle of Wight (68)
• Herefordshire (55)
• Rutland (14)
• Remote-working with no central base (75)
• Not specified (120) 

Regional data: The table below shows how those stats add up regionally in the context of the local 15 to 24-year-old population. The population figures have been extracted from the latest ONS census data published in June 2022 and my analysis provides the following information:

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

• 11,629   London (1,078,600: 10.78)
•   5,335   South West (645,800: 8.26)
•   5,169   West Midlands (720,900: 7.17)
•   7,381   South East (1,040,500: 7.09)
•   6,075   North West (884,600: 6.87)  
•   4,680   East of England (685,300: 6.83)
•   4,462   Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 6.65)
•   3,176   East Midlands (593,700: 5.35)
•   1,601   North East (313,000: 5.12)
•        75   Remote-working
•      120   Not specified

• 49,703   Total England (6,633,200: 7.49)

Whilst my data is always going to have flaws in it, I think the above comparisons give a fair reflection of the regional differences that exist and they raise a few questions about ‘levelling up’ too. The South West’s prominence is perhaps surprising, with Bristol being a particularly busy hub.

Updated occupational analysis

Every week I update my occupational analysis, breaking the vacancies down into what I loosely define as ‘occupational areas’. In some cases these differ from the official apprenticeship standards terminology. For each occupational area the total number of vacancies since January 2020 is given below for both degree and higher apprenticeships.

Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7):

In total there have been 27,425 new vacancies spread across 108 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £36,775pa, with the average being somewhere in the middle at around £19K. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

4,592 Accountancy/Tax/Audit/Assurance Professionals

4,489 Police Constables 

2,813 Digital Technology Solutions (General) *see below for details

1,512 Chartered Surveyors (843 Quantity Surveyors, 364 Project Managers, 171 Building Surveyors, 62 Building Control Surveyors, 43 Rural Surveyors, 29 Geospatial Surveyors)

1,306 Chartered Business Managers/Consultants

1,142 Software Engineers/Developers

1,058 Civil Engineers

  779 Project Managers (General)

  762 Nurses (593 Adult, 124 Mental Health, 37 Learning Disability, 8 Child) 

  746 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

  528 Electrical/Electronic Engineers

  454 Design & Development Engineers (Mechanical)

  410 Nuclear Engineers  

  409 Manufacturing Engineers

  387 Supply Chain Leaders

  363 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

  351 Food & Drink Technologists/Manufacturers

  335 Building Services Engineers

  317 Cyber/Information Security Professionals

  306 Aerospace Engineers

  298 Solicitors

  295 Digital Marketing Professionals

  283 Professional Economists

  263 Sales Professionals

  255 Laboratory Scientists

  209 Retail Leaders

  201 Healthcare Science Practitioners (42 Biomedical Sciences, 27 Cardiac Physiology, 23 Nuclear Medicine, 22 Radiotherapy Physics, 18 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 16 Radiation Engineering, 13 Audiology, 13 Medical Engineering, 12 Neurophysiology, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 5 Medical Physics, 3 Clinical Informatics, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Technology) 

  199 Environmental Practitioners

  158 Construction Site Managers

  157 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers

  131 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

  116 Automation & Control Engineers   

  103 Electro-Mechanical Engineers

    96 Project Controls Professionals

    93 Occupational Therapists

    90 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers   

    90 Radiographers (52 Diagnostic, 38 Therapeutic)   

    86 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers     

    76 Hotel/Hospitality Chartered Managers 

    75 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

    67 Podiatrists

    66 Creative Digital Designers    

    61 Chemical Engineers   

    56 Town Planners

    54 Clinical Trials Specialists

    52 Packaging Professionals 

    47 Social Workers 

    45 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers

    40 Manufacturing/Production Managers (non-food)

    39 Architectural Technologists (Design & Construction)

    38 Environmental Health Officers

    38 Transport Planners    

    35 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers

    34 Human Resources Professionals  

    32 Recruitment Professionals    

    30 Public Health Practitioners

    27 Physiotherapists

    26 Architectural Assistants

    25 Marketing/Brand Managers

    23 Geotechnical Engineers

    19 Fire Safety Engineers

    18 Insurance Professionals

    18 Journalists   

    15 Forestry Professionals

    13 Environmental Engineers

    13 Midwives

    13 Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners

    10 Dietitians

    10 Chartered Managers (Sports Business)

      9 Chartered Managers (Social Change)     

      9 Propulsion Engineers

      8 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

      8 Gas Transmission Engineers

      7 Land Buyers

      7 Speech & Language Therapists

      6 Actuarial Professionals     

      6 Chartered Legal Executives   

      6 Sport Development Officers

      5 Fitness/Leisure Centre Managers

      5 Operations Analysts

      4 Assistant Buyers

      4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches

      4 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Specialists      

      4 Trading Standards Officers  

      3 Assistant Archivists

      3 Digital Transformation Engineers

      3 Education Technology Specialists

      3 TV Production Managers

      2 Licensed Conveyancers

      2 Lighting Designers

      2 Pensions Professionals

      2 Youth Workers

      1 AI Data Specialist

      1 Charity Manager

      1 Community Centre Manager

      1 Community Safety Officer

      1 Events Manager

      1 Facilities Manager

      1 Games Programmer

      1 Health & Safety Practitioner

      1 Human Performance Engineer 

      1 Marine Engineer

      1 Orthotist

      1 Population Health Intelligence Analyst

      1 Prosthetist

      1 Robotics Engineer

      1 Service Designer      

      1 Sonographer 

*DAs in Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) open up a wide range of roles. Some vacancies specify the role, while others are flexible. The three most frequently specified roles have been Software Engineer/Developer, Data Analyst and Cyber Security Specialist and I’ve recorded these as three separate occupations in my DA listings above (Data Analysts being merged in with Data Scientists and Data Engineers for the purposes of my reports). Meanwhile, those DAs listed as Digital Technology Solutions (General) are either flexible or they lead to other specific roles. The following is a list of all the DTS roles I’ve recorded since 2020 and it now encompasses 106 different job titles:

Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Tester, Cyber Security Specialist, Data Analyst, IT Consultant, Network Engineer, Data Scientist, Global Data Analyst, Data Product Specialist, Data Architect, Network Architect, Enterprise Architect, Digital Solutions Architect, Technology Architect, Solutions Consultant, Software Consultant, Software Implementation Consultant, Technical Consultant, Technology Consultant, Functional Consultant, Business Consultant, Dynamics Consultant, Security Consultant, Application Management Consultant, Project Manager, Project Co-ordinator, Digital Project Delivery Support, Application Developer, Business Intelligence (BI) Developer, Business Systems Developer, Automation Developer, Automation Test Developer, Full Stack Developer, Digital Developer, Prototype Developer, Technology Manager, Legal Technologist, Innovation Technologist, Innovation Design Analyst, Agile Analyst, Application Analyst, Applications Support Analyst, Technical Support Analyst, Operations Support Analyst, Support Desk Analyst, IT Support Analyst, IT Service Desk Analyst, Business Analyst, Business Technology Analyst, Network Strategy Analyst, Global Mobility Analyst, Content Analyst, Security Operations Analyst, Process Mining Analyst, SAP Analyst, User Experience Researcher, Digital Social Media Executive, Junior Product Manager, Infrastructure Specialist, FinTech Specialist, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Digital Solutions Engineer, Hardware Engineer, Systems Engineer, Business Systems Engineer, Automation Engineer, IT Support Engineer, Technical Support Engineer, Service Desk Engineer, Cloud Engineer, Quality Assurance Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Sales Engineer, Sales Account Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Sales Data Analyst, AI Technical Sales Adviser, Scientific Computing Specialist, Platform Manager, Service Manager, Engineering Information Manager, Information Management Technology Specialist, Control Systems Specialist, Amazon Web Services Specialist, Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition Specialist, Fixed Telecoms Specialist, IT/Computing Technician, Second Line Support Technician, WordPress Developer, Public Health Intelligence Officer, Technology Operations & Service Delivery Specialist, Associate Digital Delivery Manager, Digital Manufacturing Engineer, Electronic Systems Design & Development Engineer, Solution Engineering & Development Specialist, Client Delivery Specialist, Client Success Specialist, Client Consultant, Microsoft Dynamics & Power Applications Consultant, Microsoft 365 Product Specialist, IT Governance & Applications Support Specialist, Operations Resilience & Change Specialist, Innovation Foundry Specialist, and Continuous Improvement & Automation Specialist.

Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5):

In total there have been 22,278 new vacancies spread across 147 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,002 to a whopping £38,469pa. The average is around £17K, except for Sports Coaches which are usually around £10K or lower. The occupational breakdown is as follows: 

1,902 Sales Executives

1,504 Accounting Technicians

1,474 Software Developers 

1,461 Data Analysts

1,331 Project Management Associates

1,087 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)   

  720 Nursing Associates (Adult/Elderly/Mental Health/Learning Disability)

  653 Construction Site Supervisors

  634 Engineering Manufacturing Technicians 

  575 Quantity Surveying Technicians  

  572 Taxation Technicians

  564 Network Engineers

  563 Business Analysts  

  437 Cyber Security Technologists

  409 Software Testers

  407 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

  401 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

  370 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

  311 Social Care Practitioners (Adults/Children/Families/Young People)  

  305 Building Services Engineering Technicians

  297 Investment Operations Specialists

  284 Insurance Practitioners  

  281 Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technicians

  272 Buying & Merchandising Assistants

  254 Retail Managers  

  251 Healthcare Assistant Practitioners (150 Reablement, 69 Multidisciplinary, 12 Diagnostic Imaging, 5 Podiatry, 5 Speech Therapy, 3 Continuing Healthcare, 3 Intensive Care, 2 Dietetic Speech & Language, 1 Occupational Therapy, 1 Stroke Rehabilitation)

  250 Technician Scientists

  231 DevOps Engineers

  227 Marketing Executives

  224 Junior Management Consultants

  197 Construction Design & Build Technicians

  195 Police Community Support Officers

  192 Policy Practitioners

  191 Early Years Lead Practitioners

  173 Regulatory Compliance Officers

  171 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

  149 Healthcare Science Associates/Technicians (59 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers, 31 Medical Engineering, 16 Cardiac Physiology, 14 Genetics, 11 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 5 Mammography, 4 Tissue Retrieval, 2 Medical Physics, 2 Phlebotomy, 1 Biochemistry, 1 Biomedicine, 1 Neurophysiology, 1 Nuclear Medicine, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering)

  143 Mineral Products Technicians 

  135 Human Resources Specialists 

  129 Railway Engineering Technicians

  125 Food Technology/Manufacturing Technicians 

  121 Quality Assurance Practitioners

  112 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners 

  109 Hospitality Managers

    95 Nuclear Technicians  

    84 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

    83 Internal Audit Practitioners

    80 Intelligence Analysts

    73 Recruitment Consultants

    71 Actuarial Technicians

    66 Brewers 

    65 Financial Paraplanners   

    63 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

    63 Journalists   

    62 Vehicle Damage Assessors     

    57 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers    

    54 Operations Managers   

    51 Applications Support Leads

    51 Audiovisual Technicians

    51 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors   

    45 Market Research Executives

    43 Dairy Technologists

    41 Business Improvement Practitioners 

    37 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

    33 Information Managers 

    32 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

    31 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

    30 Air Traffic Controllers

    28 BEMS Controls Engineers (Building Energy Management Systems)

    25 Engineer Surveyors

    24 Estate Agency Negotiators

    24 Paralegals

    21 Countryside Rangers

    21 Land Referencers 

    19 Acoustics Technicians

    17 Digital Community Managers

    16 Digital Accessibility Specialists

    15 Fibre Cable Engineers

    15 Smart Energy Engineers

    12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

    11 Engineering Maintenance Technicians

    11 Facilities Managers

    11 Film/TV Post-Production Technical Operators

    11 Gymnastics Coaches

    11 Hygiene Specialists

    10 Employability Practitioners

    10 Football Coaches

      9 Counter Fraud Investigators    

      9 Naval Architects / Marine Engineering Technicians

      9 Railway/Passenger Transport Operations Managers

      8 Antisocial Behaviour & Community Safety Officers

      8 Data Protection Officers     

      8 School Business Professionals     

      8 Town Planning Technicians 

      7 Computer Games Developers

      7 Dental Technicians

      7 Port Marine Operations Officers

      7 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment) 

      6 Fire Safety Inspectors

      6 Music Teachers

      5 Architectural Technicians

      5 Asset Managers

      5 Broadcasting Technical Operators

      5 Early Intervention Practitioners

      5 Unified Communications Troubleshooters

      5 Visual Merchandisers

      4 Aircraft Certifying Technicians      

      4 Padel Coaches

      4 Space Engineering Technicians

      4 Tax Technology Technicians

      3 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Technicians

      3 Culinary Chefs

      3 Fashion & Textiles Technologists

      3 Historic Site Advisers

      3 Junior Animators     

      3 Payroll Associates

      3 Pensions Administrators

      3 Sports Development Officers   

      3 Utilities Technicians

      3 Visual Effects Artists

      2 Arboriculturists      

      2 Auctioneers

      2 Chaplains

      2 Cricket Coaches

      2 Energy Specialists

      2 Music Recording Technicians

      2 Outdoor Education/Adventure Sports Specialist

      2 Trampoline Coach & Rebound Therapists

      2 Travel Executives

      2 Water Recycling Engineers

      1 Chemical Process Technician

      1 Clinical Coder

      1 Cultural Heritage Conservation Technician

      1 Customs & Foreign Exchange Expert

      1 Digital Learning Designer

      1 Fitness Club Manager

      1 Fitness Instructor

      1 Health Informatics Specialist

      1 Horticultural / Landscape Design Practitioner

      1 Hotel Reception Manager

      1 Lighting Designer

      1 Metrology Technician

      1 Process Leader

      1 Proposals Co-ordinator

      1 Tennis Coach

      1 Wedding Accessories Designer

      1 Wedding Venue Co-ordinator

Going forward

All being well I will continue posting weekly or fortnightly updates, usually on Sunday nights or Monday mornings.   

© Alan Bullock Careers, 15/10/2023