Latest reflections on the situation in England

It’s been a landmark week in which my cumulative vacancy listings reached 50,000. My numbers will always be substantially lower than any official data that’s based on apprenticeship starts, because I only record vacancies that are publicly advertised and suitable for a capable and well-prepared 18/19-year old to apply for in their final year of school or college or within a year of leaving. However, I think it’s fair to say that 50,000 is a substantial database from which to draw some useful conclusions about what the landscape looks like for ‘work-ready’ Level 3 school/college leavers who are considering the apprenticeship option as a route into higher education and employment.       

This latest week saw lots of activity, with more of the big September 2024 providers opening their recruitment or at least getting onto my radar for the first time. These included Airbus, Wates, Marks & Spencer and Barclays, all of whom provide very helpful vacancy listings on their websites. However, what they don’t necessarily clarify is whether each of the vacancies has one place or multiple places, in which case I err on the side of caution and make later adjustments if appropriate. This week the M&S vacancies were especially interesting as they list 26 different towns and cities where they have Retail Leader opportunities including the likes of Gillingham, Shoreham, Cheshunt, Banbury, Worcester, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Ellesmere Port, Pudsey, Carlisle and Gateshead. They also have a batch of Buying & Merchandising HAs in London.

There were several other highlights too, amongst them Defence Equipment & Support posting 15 Chartered Manager DAs and 20 Project Management Associate HAs in the Filton area of Bristol. With Airbus also being very prominent nearby, it reinforced my perception that North Bristol must be THE hottest DA/HA hotspot in Britain.

Meanwhile, other prominent employers this week included Mott MacDonald, BP, S&P Global with 10 Journalist HAs in London and several law firms posting Solicitor DA opportunities. The BBC also launched their Level 6 apprenticeship recruitment but I didn’t quite pick it up in time for inclusion in this week’s data, so instead I’ll be reporting on it in next week’s update. There was also an Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispenser HA with Specsavers in Banbury, and with Banbury getting two mentions in dispatches I’ve picked out an Oxfordshire photo as my featured image for the second week running. However, this time it’s not one of my own but an atmospheric impression by Colin Watts on Unsplash that was taken a few miles from Banbury in the Hook Norton area.

Keep watching this space for lots more useful snippets in the weeks ahead, along with one or two special supplementary editions I’ve got in mind such as an Environmental Practitioner special that’s been in the pipeline for a few months.     

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: 754 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
• Wales: 190 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 166 at Levels 4/5
• Northern Ireland: 178 vacancies at Levels 4 to 7

This week Marks & Spencer has been active in all three devolved nations while Barclays have some vacancies in Scotland, construction and property services firm Wates have some in Cardiff and Airbus has opened its recruitment once again at Broughton in Flintshire, which I have some knowledge of following a very useful call I had with their Early Careers lead recently. Airbus Broughton seem to be very buoyant at present and in total they recruited 279 apprentices, graduates and interns in 2023, of which I would estimate that around 15% were Higher or Degree Apprentices in Engineering, Business, Digital, Supply Chain, Data and Finance disciplines.

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 (recently 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 16^th to 22^nd October 2023 I recorded:

• 194 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
• 151 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 345 for the week

In the 199 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 22^nd October 2023 I’ve now recorded:

• 27,619 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
• 22,429 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 50,048

The average weekly totals across all 198 weeks have been:

• 139 DAs + 113 HAs = 252 average weekly total 

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 50,048 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

• Greater London (11,699)
• Yorkshire (4,466)
• West Midlands (3,224)
• Greater Manchester (2,857)
• Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,340)
• Hampshire (1,709)
• Berkshire (1,646)
• Hertfordshire (1,253)
• Surrey (1,167)
• Cheshire (1,056)
• Tyne & Wear (986)
• Nottinghamshire (961)
• Derbyshire (947)
• Cambridgeshire (946)
• Sussex (906)
• Merseyside (829)
• Essex (823)
• Suffolk (784)
• Devon (756)
• Lancashire (731)
• Buckinghamshire (699)
• Somerset & South Bristol (664)
• Dorset (657)
• Cumbria (653)
• Kent (648)
• Warwickshire (641)
• Oxfordshire (597)
• Staffordshire (593)
• Leicestershire (593)
• Wiltshire (586)
• Bedfordshire (531)
• County Durham (478)
• Northamptonshire (418)
• Cornwall (397)
• Norfolk (376)
• Worcestershire (374)
• Lincolnshire (346)
• 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:

• 11,699   London (1,078,600: 10.85)
•   5,400   South West (645,800: 8.36)
•   5,195   West Midlands (720,900: 7.21)
•   7,440   South East (1,040,500: 7.15)
•   6,126   North West (884,600: 6.93)  
•   4,713   East of England (685,300: 6.88)
•   4,478   Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 6.68)
•   3,189   East Midlands (593,700: 5.37)
•   1,613   North East (313,000: 5.15)
•        75   Remote-working
•      120   Not specified

• 50,048   Total England (6,633,200: 7.55)

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 27,619 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

4,496 Police Constables 

2,832 Digital Technology Solutions (General) *see below for details

1,514 Chartered Surveyors (843 Quantity Surveyors, 366 Project Managers, 171 Building Surveyors, 62 Building Control Surveyors, 43 Rural Surveyors, 29 Geospatial Surveyors)

1,331 Chartered Business Managers/Consultants

1,147 Software Engineers/Developers

1,070 Civil Engineers

  783 Project Managers (General)

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

  746 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

  530 Electrical/Electronic Engineers

  456 Design & Development Engineers (Mechanical)

  413 Manufacturing Engineers

  410 Nuclear Engineers  

  395 Supply Chain Leaders

  381 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

  351 Food & Drink Technologists/Manufacturers

  336 Building Services Engineers

  318 Cyber/Information Security Professionals

  314 Aerospace Engineers

  312 Solicitors

  298 Digital Marketing Professionals

  283 Professional Economists

  265 Sales Professionals

  255 Laboratory Scientists

  239 Retail Leaders

  203 Environmental Practitioners

  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)   

  161 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers

  159 Construction Site Managers

  131 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

  116 Automation & Control Engineers   

  108 Electro-Mechanical/Mechatronic Engineers

  100 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

    43 Human Resources Professionals  

    40 Manufacturing/Production Managers (non-food)

    39 Architectural Technologists (Design & Construction)

    38 Environmental Health Officers

    38 Transport Planners    

    35 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers

    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 22,429 new vacancies spread across 148 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: 

1,908 Sales Executives

1,511 Accounting Technicians

1,481 Software Developers 

1,466 Data Analysts

1,354 Project Management Associates

1,095 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)   

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

  673 Construction Site Supervisors

  634 Engineering Manufacturing Technicians 

  588 Quantity Surveying Technicians  

  572 Taxation Technicians

  567 Network Engineers

  564 Business Analysts  

  440 Cyber Security Technologists

  410 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

  410 Software Testers

  401 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

  370 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

  311 Building Services Engineering Technicians

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

  304 Investment Operations Specialists

  284 Insurance Practitioners  

  281 Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technicians

  277 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

  199 Construction Design & Build Technicians

  195 Police Community Support Officers

  192 Policy Practitioners

  191 Early Years Lead Practitioners

  174 Regulatory Compliance Officers

  171 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

  150 Healthcare Science Associates/Technicians (60 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 

  122 Quality Assurance Practitioners

  113 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners 

  109 Hospitality Managers

    95 Nuclear Technicians  

    87 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

    86 Internal Audit Practitioners

    80 Intelligence Analysts

    73 Journalists   

    73 Recruitment Consultants

    71 Actuarial Technicians

    66 Brewers 

    65 Financial Paraplanners   

    63 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

    62 Vehicle Damage Assessors     

    57 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers    

    55 Applications Support Leads

    55 Operations Managers   

    51 Audiovisual Technicians

    51 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors   

    46 Market Research Executives

    43 Dairy Technologists

    41 Business Improvement Practitioners 

    37 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

    34 Information Managers 

    32 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

    31 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

    30 Air Traffic Controllers

    29 BEMS Controls Engineers (Building Energy Management Systems)

    25 Engineer Surveyors

    24 Estate Agency Negotiators

    24 Paralegals

    23 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 Digital Product Manager

      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, 22/10/2023