Latest reflections on the situation in England 

Week 204 was a very productive one and the big news is somewhat ironic in the context of the recent HS2 debacle. Yes, the North West has moved marginally ahead of the South East in my regional table.

As always I’ll be the first to admit that my data comes with lots of caveats, but there’s no doubt that the region as a whole has been very prominent in my listings in recent months. In fact, the North West, South East and West Midlands are locked in quite a battle for third place, so if my numbers are to be believed there does seem to be a little bit of levelling up going on. The North East had a fairly decent week too, which included a rare Northumberland vacancy in Hexham.

Otherwise, the bigger players in a week in which I recorded 385 new vacancies included the likes of National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), Arcadis (global design and consultancy for natural and fixed assets), Aon (professional services and management consulting), UBS (financial services), the PlanBEE Design & Build Technician programme based in London, Manchester and Newcastle, and Capgemini with ten Digital DAs in Worthing.

The NGED HA programmes for Electrical Power Engineers in partnership with Aston University are especially notable for their attractive starting salaries and for being spread across a range of locations in the South West, East Midlands and West Midlands. I counted a total of 25 vacancies, one of which stood out for having the most astronomical apprenticeship starting salary I have ever seen in my entire career. It’s a particularly demanding role as an Apprentice Control Engineer based in either Leicestershire or Cardiff and working in a setting that’s operational 24/7/365, but nonetheless I think there must surely be a catch. However, I couldn’t identify what the catch actually is and the vacancy fitted within my self-imposed eligibility criteria, so I’ve kept it in. I’m sure in reality it’s aimed at more experienced applicants, but if you’re curious to find out how much the salary is, check out my HA listings below and be prepared for a shock (no pun intended). It’s also another good advert for the importance of STEM subjects, as Maths and a Science will be required at Level 3.     

With Manchester being busy this week, the city is once again the focus of my featured image. It’s well-known local landmark the GMEX Centre, formerly Manchester Central railway station where express trains to and from London St Pancras used to arrive and depart via the Peak District, Derby and Leicester. Very sadly, the route was severed in 1968. I took the photo some years ago whilst taking part in one of those fabulous CRAC conferences at the adjacent Midland Hotel. It was one of the best Careers conferences ever!

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: 830 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
• Wales: 224 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 171 at Levels 4/5
• Northern Ireland: 187 vacancies at Levels 4 to 7

All being well I hope to publish 18-month Scotland and Wales updates by the end of this week. My Northern Ireland data is building up too and I may attempt to write a report on it soon.     

Background  

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 in their final year of school/college or after gaining up to 12 months’ 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 significant observation 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 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 20^th to 26^th November 2023 I recorded:

• 190 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
• 195 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 385 for the week

In the 204 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 26^th November 2023 I’ve now recorded:

• 28,728 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
• 23,077 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
• giving a total of 51,805

The average weekly totals across all 204 weeks have been:

• 141 DAs + 113 HAs = 254 average weekly total 

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 51,805 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

• Greater London (12,004)
• Yorkshire (4,574)
• West Midlands (3,337)
• Greater Manchester (3,007)
• Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,484)
• Hampshire (1,777)
• Berkshire (1,690)
• Hertfordshire (1,275)
• Surrey (1,206)
• Cheshire (1,125)
• Tyne & Wear (1,029)
• Nottinghamshire (977)
• Derbyshire (970)
• Cambridgeshire (964)
• Sussex (961)
• Merseyside (864)
• Essex (838)
• Cumbria (806)
• Suffolk (804)
• Devon (803)
• Lancashire (768)
• Buckinghamshire (726)
• Somerset & South Bristol (692)
• Dorset (673)
• Kent (667)
• Warwickshire (647)
• Leicestershire (646)
• Oxfordshire (604)
• Wiltshire (599)
• Staffordshire (598)
• Bedfordshire (543)
• County Durham (482)
• Northamptonshire (427)
• Cornwall (399)
• Norfolk (388)
• Worcestershire (381)
• Lincolnshire (353)
• Shropshire (310)
• Northumberland (72)
• Isle of Wight (70)
• Herefordshire (56)
• 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:

• 12,004   London (1,078,600: 11.13)
•   5,650   South West (645,800: 8.75)
•   6,570   North West (884,600: 7.43)  
•   7,701   South East (1,040,500: 7.40)  
•   5,329   West Midlands (720,900: 7.39)
•   4,812   East of England (685,300: 7.02)
•   4,587   Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 6.84)
•   3,294   East Midlands (593,700: 5.55)
•   1,663   North East (313,000: 5.31)
•        75   Remote-working
•      120   Not specified

• 51,805   Total England (6,633,200: 7.81) 

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. 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 28,728 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:

4,762 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals

4,496 Police Constables 

2,982 Digital Technology Solutions (General) *see below for details

1,567 Chartered Surveyors (870 Quantity Surveyors, 377 Project Managers, 182 Building Surveyors, 62 Building Control Surveyors, 47 Rural Surveyors, 29 Geospatial Surveyors)

1,389 Chartered Business Managers

1,208 Software Engineers/Developers

1,118 Civil Engineers

  857 Project Managers (General)

  800 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

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

  556 Electrical/Electronic Engineers

  524 Nuclear Engineers/Scientists  

  463 Design & Development Engineers

  421 Manufacturing Engineers

  397 Supply Chain Leaders

  396 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

  356 Food & Drink Technologists/Manufacturers

  351 Cyber Security Professionals

  342 Building Services Design Engineers

  341 Solicitors

  327 Aerospace Engineers

  308 Digital Marketing Professionals

  283 Professional Economists

  266 Sales Professionals

  257 Laboratory Scientists

  239 Retail Leaders

  209 Environmental Practitioners

  204 Healthcare Science Practitioners (42 Biomedical Sciences, 27 Cardiac Physiology, 24 Nuclear Medicine, 23 Radiation Physics, 18 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 17 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)   

  169 Construction Managers

  167 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers

  139 Electro-Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineers

  134 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

  116 Automation & Control Engineers   

  114 Project Controls Professionals

  111 Radiographers (61 Diagnostic, 50 Therapeutic)

    93 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers   

    93 Occupational Therapists

    91 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers     

    76 Hotel/Hospitality Chartered Managers 

    75 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

    69 Podiatrists

    68 Creative Digital Designers    

    66 Chemical Engineers   

    62 Town Planners

    58 Social Workers

    57 Packaging Professionals 

    54 Clinical Trials Specialists

    53 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers

    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

    31 Journalists   

    30 Public Health Practitioners

    29 Architectural Assistants

    27 Physiotherapists

    25 Marketing/Brand Managers

    23 Geotechnical Engineers

    20 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

      5 Trading Standards Officers  

      4 Assistant Buyers

      4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches

      4 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Specialists      

      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 23,077 new vacancies spread across 148 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,002 to an unbelievably astronomical £48,369pa. However, the average is around £17K, except for Sports Coaches which are usually around £10K or lower. The occupational breakdown is as follows: 

1,934 Sales Executives

1,547 Accounting Technicians

1,514 Software Developers 

1,501 Data Analysts

1,401 Project Management Associates

1,125 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)   

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

  686 Construction Site Supervisors

  653 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians 

  591 Quantity Surveying Technicians  

  576 Network Engineers

  573 Taxation Technicians

  565 Business Analysts  

  447 Cyber Security Technologists

  431 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

  415 Software Testers

  404 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

  371 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

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

  321 Investment Operations Specialists

  315 Building Services Engineering Technicians

  315 Insurance Practitioners  

  314 Electrical/Electronic Technician Engineers

  277 Buying & Merchandising Assistants

  269 Junior Management Consultants

  257 Healthcare Assistant Practitioners (150 Reablement, 69 Multidisciplinary, 12 Diagnostic Imaging, 6 Mammography, 5 Podiatry, 5 Speech Therapy, 3 Continuing Healthcare, 3 Intensive Care, 2 Dietetic Speech & Language, 1 Occupational Therapy, 1 Stroke Rehabilitation)

  256 Retail Managers  

  254 Technician Scientists

  233 Marketing Executives

  232 DevOps Engineers

  229 Construction Design & Build Technicians

  200 Policy Practitioners

  195 Police Community Support Officers

  191 Early Years Lead Practitioners

  177 Regulatory Compliance Officers

  171 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

  149 Healthcare Science Associates/Technicians (60 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers, 31 Medical Engineering, 19 Cardiac & Respiratory Physiology, 14 Genetics, 12 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 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

  127 Quality Assurance Practitioners

  125 Food Technology/Manufacturing Technicians 

  116 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners

  112 Nuclear Technicians  

  111 Hospitality Managers

    90 Journalists   

    88 Internal Audit Practitioners

    87 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

    83 Actuarial Technicians

    80 Intelligence Analysts   

    73 Recruitment Consultants

    71 Vehicle Damage Assessors

    69 Brewers 

    65 Financial Paraplanners   

    64 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

    58 Operations Managers   

    57 Applications Support Leads

    57 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers    

    53 Audiovisual Technicians

    51 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors   

    48 Market Research Executives

    43 Dairy Technologists

    43 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

    42 Business Improvement Practitioners 

    40 Information Managers 

    36 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

    32 BEMS Controls Engineers (Building Energy Management Systems)

    31 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

    30 Air Traffic Controllers   

    29 Engineering Maintenance Technicians

    26 Paralegals

    25 Engineer Surveyors

    24 Estate Agency Negotiators

    23 Countryside Rangers

    21 Land Referencers 

    19 Acoustics Technicians

    17 Digital Accessibility Specialists

    17 Digital Community Managers

    15 Fibre Cable Engineers

    15 Smart Energy Engineers

    12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

    11 Facilities Managers

    11 Film/TV Post-Production Technical Operators

    11 Football Coaches

    11 Gymnastics Coaches

    11 Hygiene Specialists

    10 Employability Practitioners

      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 Historic Environment Advice Assistants

      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 Junior Animators     

      3 Music Recording Technicians

      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 Outdoor Education/Adventure Sports Specialist

      2 Trampoline Coaches & Rebound Therapists

      2 Travel Executives

      2 Water Recycling Engineers

      1 Chemical Process Technician

      1 Conveyancing Technician

      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, 27/11/2023