Latest reflections on the situation in England 

For the first three days this week things were buoyant, with a substantial range of new 2024 DA and HA vacancies opening up across the country from Barrow in Cumbria to Whitstable in Kent. However, Thursday was slower and then on Friday it all went deathly quiet, with no new vacancies whatsoever posted on any of the six different sites that I use as my regular sources. Maybe there was a technical glitch of some kind (*see below), but if not then it’s almost unprecedented on a weekday. As such it reinforces my observation that, while annual vacancies are holding up well, the ad hoc vacancies that usually trickle in on a daily basis seem to be dwindling somewhat. This could be a sign of tough economic conditions kicking in, although I still hope to be proved wrong and I’ll keep you posted about how it plays out in the coming weeks. (*Monday morning update – there does indeed appear to be a technical glitch on the government website, with no new vacancies of any kind posted since last Thursday. So that explains it, although all the other sites I use were very quiet on Friday too.)

Three big national providers were especially prominent this week namely Unilever (with 69 new DA/HA vacancies), Thales (38) and BAE Systems. As always, Unilever’s annual vacancies were published on the government apprenticeship site with clear information about each role, location, entry requirements, degree partner and especially the precise number of positions available, which is so helpful in giving a sense of scale and volume. Thales are also in my good books for similar reasons, while BAE Systems launched their substantial annual programme on Wednesday across a wide range of occupations and locations, all of which are itemised in detail on their website. Nestlé’s annual Finance and Management DA vacancies in Crawley and York were posted this week too and there were some interesting new DA vacancies with property and construction consultancy Ridge and Partners across eleven different locations and with a structure that allows apprentices to gain an overview of the sector before choosing their specialism.

Regionally, the big winners this week were Cumbria, Lancashire, Hampshire, Sussex, Leicestershire (thanks to accountancy firm Cooper Parry), Merseyside and Greater London. With a number of Unilever’s vacancies located in Merseyside, I’ve picked out one of my Mersey Ferry photos as this week’s featured image. It was taken several years ago after a return crossing on a grey, moody kind of day. The towns of Barrow and Crawley were also very prominent amongst the week’s hotspots.      

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: 793 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
• Wales: 218 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 164 at Levels 4/5
• Northern Ireland: 183 vacancies at Levels 4 to 7

There’s been significant activity in all three devolved nations recently and this week Thales were prominent in Glasgow and Belfast, SSE in Perth and BAE Systems in Glascoed in Monmouthshire.

I’m aiming to publish an 18-month Scotland update at the end of this month, 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 updated) 

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. 

As a general observation I think it’s fair to say that there will never be enough degree apprenticeships to meet the potential demand, while there are also distinct regional variations. To a certain extent there’s probably a mismatch between students’ aspirations and the actual occupations available as well, which occasionally leads to reports of some of the less popular vacancies being hard to fill. In addition, only about 25% of overall apprenticeship vacancies are taken up by under-19s, which partly explains why my cumulative data falls well short of any official data based on apprenticeship starts. Meanwhile, a proportion of those Level 3 students who do take up apprenticeships will start on Level 3 programmes rather than progressing directly to Level 4 or above.

One further observation that’s perhaps important to mention is that NHS and other healthcare roles have become increasingly prominent in my data over time, thanks especially to the NHS Jobs website. However, these vacancies often stretch my criteria to the limit in terms of the maturity and experience they look for. Occasionally school/college leavers are actually mentioned in the person spec, but more often they’re aimed at people with at least a few months’ experience or more. However, I’ve worked with a lot of young students in the past, especially those on Level 3 courses in the health and care field and/or those with significant work/voluntary experience or caring responsibilities, who could probably make a very competitive application for such roles. Hence I do include these vacancies if I think a mature 18/19-year-old might be considered, especially within a year of leaving school or college.

Headline data

In England during the latest period from 30^th October to 5^th November 2023 I recorded:

• 285 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
• 108 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 393 for the week

In the 201 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 5^th November 2023 I’ve now recorded:

• 28,040 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
• 22,627 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 50,667

The average weekly totals across all 201 weeks have been:

• 139 DAs + 113 HAs = 252 average weekly total 

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 50,667 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

• Greater London (11,822)
• Yorkshire (4,495)
• West Midlands (3,257)
• Greater Manchester (2,893)
• Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,369)
• Hampshire (1,762)
• Berkshire (1,669)
• Hertfordshire (1,258)
• Surrey (1,190)
• Cheshire (1,074)
• Tyne & Wear (994)
• Nottinghamshire (963)
• Derbyshire (954)
• Cambridgeshire (950)
• Sussex (937)
• Merseyside (854)
• Essex (826)
• Suffolk (786)
• Lancashire (765)
• Devon (757)
• Buckinghamshire (700)
• Cumbria (691)
• Somerset & South Bristol (665)
• Dorset (665)
• Kent (660)
• Warwickshire (643)
• Leicestershire (626)
• Staffordshire (601)
• Oxfordshire (601)
• Wiltshire (592)
• Bedfordshire (538)
• County Durham (479)
• Northamptonshire (419)
• Cornwall (397)
• Norfolk (378)
• Worcestershire (375)
• Lincolnshire (348)
• Shropshire (309)
• Northumberland (71)
• Isle of Wight (70)
• 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:

• 11,822   London (1,078,600: 10.96)
•   5,445   South West (645,800: 8.43)
•   7,589   South East (1,040,500: 7.29)
•   5,240   West Midlands (720,900: 7.27)
•   6,277   North West (884,600: 7.10)  
•   4,736   East of England (685,300: 6.91)
•   4,509   Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 6.72)
•   3,232   East Midlands (593,700: 5.44)
•   1,622   North East (313,000: 5.18)
•        75   Remote-working
•      120   Not specified

• 50,667   Total England (6,633,200: 7.64)

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 certainly raise a few questions about ‘levelling up’. The South West’s prominence is perhaps surprising, with Bristol being a particularly busy hub and, whilst it grieves me to say so, it’s hard to ignore what appears to be something of a north/south divide.

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 28,040 new vacancies spread across 107 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:

4,651 Accountancy/Tax/Audit/Assurance Professionals

4,496 Police Constables 

2,889 Digital Technology Solutions (General) *see below for details

1,527 Chartered Surveyors (847 Quantity Surveyors, 370 Project Managers, 174 Building Surveyors, 62 Building Control Surveyors, 45 Rural Surveyors, 29 Geospatial Surveyors)

1,362 Chartered Business Managers/Consultants

1,198 Software Engineers/Developers

1,074 Civil Engineers

  825 Project Managers (General)

  767 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

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

  543 Electrical/Electronic Engineers

  462 Design & Development Engineers

  415 Manufacturing Engineers

  412 Nuclear Engineers  

  397 Supply Chain Leaders

  386 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

  354 Food & Drink Technologists/Manufacturers

  339 Building Services Engineers

  334 Cyber/Information Security Professionals

  320 Aerospace Engineers

  320 Solicitors

  305 Digital Marketing Professionals

  283 Professional Economists

  266 Sales Professionals

  257 Laboratory Scientists

  239 Retail Leaders

  205 Environmental Practitioners

  202 Healthcare Science Practitioners (42 Biomedical Sciences, 27 Cardiac Physiology, 24 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)   

  163 Construction Site Managers

  161 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers

  132 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

  116 Automation & Control Engineers   

  113 Electro-Mechanical/Mechatronic Engineers

  112 Project Controls Professionals

    93 Occupational Therapists

    93 Radiographers (54 Diagnostic, 39 Therapeutic)   

    92 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers   

    88 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers     

    76 Hotel/Hospitality Chartered Managers 

    75 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

    68 Podiatrists

    66 Creative Digital Designers    

    65 Chemical Engineers   

    56 Packaging Professionals 

    56 Town Planners

    54 Clinical Trials Specialists

    51 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers

    47 Social Workers 

    43 Human Resources Professionals  

    41 Environmental Health Officers

    40 Manufacturing/Production Managers (non-food)

    39 Architectural Technologists (Design & Construction)

    38 Transport Planners    

    35 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers

    32 Recruitment Professionals    

    30 Public Health Practitioners

    27 Architectural Assistants

    27 Physiotherapists

    26 Journalists   

    25 Marketing/Brand Managers

    23 Geotechnical Engineers

    19 Fire Safety Engineers

    18 Insurance Professionals

    15 Forestry Professionals

    13 Environmental Engineers

    13 Midwives

    13 Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners

    11 Chartered Managers (Sports Business)

    10 Dietitians

      9 Chartered Managers (Social Change)     

      9 Propulsion Engineers

      8 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

      8 Gas Transmission Engineers

      7 Land Buyers

      7 Marine Engineers

      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 Orthotists/Prosthetists

      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 Population Health Intelligence Analyst

      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 22,627 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: 

1,920 Sales Executives

1,521 Accounting Technicians

1,501 Software Developers 

1,481 Data Analysts

1,374 Project Management Associates

1,099 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)   

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

  682 Construction Site Supervisors

  642 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians 

  590 Quantity Surveying Technicians  

  572 Taxation Technicians

  568 Network Engineers

  564 Business Analysts  

  441 Cyber Security Technologists

  425 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

  412 Software Testers

  401 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

  370 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

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

  313 Building Services Engineering Technicians

  304 Investment Operations Specialists

  285 Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technicians

  284 Insurance Practitioners  

  277 Buying & Merchandising Assistants

  255 Retail Managers  

  252 Technician Scientists

  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)

  231 DevOps Engineers

  230 Marketing Executives

  224 Junior Management Consultants

  199 Construction Design & Build Technicians

  195 Police Community Support Officers

  195 Policy Practitioners

  191 Early Years Lead Practitioners

  183 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

  175 Regulatory Compliance Officers

  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 

  137 Human Resources Specialists 

  129 Railway Engineering Technicians

  125 Food Technology/Manufacturing Technicians 

  122 Quality Assurance Practitioners

  114 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners 

  110 Hospitality Managers

    95 Nuclear Technicians  

    88 Internal Audit Practitioners

    87 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

    80 Intelligence Analysts

    74 Journalists   

    73 Recruitment Consultants

    71 Actuarial Technicians

    66 Brewers 

    65 Financial Paraplanners   

    64 Vehicle Damage Assessors     

    63 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

    57 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers    

    55 Applications Support Leads

    55 Operations Managers   

    52 Audiovisual Technicians

    51 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors   

    46 Market Research Executives

    43 Dairy Technologists

    42 Business Improvement Practitioners 

    38 Information Managers 

    37 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

    32 BEMS Controls Engineers (Building Energy Management Systems)

    32 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

    31 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

    30 Air Traffic Controllers   

    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 Fire Safety Inspectors

      7 Port Marine Operations Officers

      7 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment) 

      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 Historic Environment/Site Advisers

      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 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, 5/11/2023