Latest reflections on the situation in England
Contrary to expectations it’s been a very busy and eventful week. Hence, whilst I’m assuming that the majority of my readers will have switched off for their well-earned Christmas break, for anyone who’s still tuned in there’s been plenty of activity to report on.
In fact, I’m happy to admit that I was wrong a few weeks ago when I wrote more than once that I was sensing a slowdown. In reality the last couple of months have been very fruitful, with many of the bigger annual recruiters opening up their 2024 programmes, in most cases with positive numbers (where known). To the best of my knowledge, all the other main annual recruiters are also due to come on stream in the New Year. One of them may even start to advertise their vacancies in the week running up to Christmas, in which case I may publish another update next week which I’m sure won’t have any readers at all!
The biggest names to post multiple 2024 vacancies in Week 207 were Amazon and the Government Economic Service. Amazon posted around 170 new DA and HA vacancies, with their usual very attractive starting salaries. So far most of these are in London, but with a handful also in Greater Manchester and Cambridge, and the most prominent occupations have been Project Management, Buying & Merchandising, Digital Technologies, Data Analytics and Accountancy. The good news for me was that Amazon revealed the precise number of vacancies for every role at every location, which is so helpful in making my data as meaningful as possible.
Similarly, the Civil Service Jobs website has fairly specific details of locations and numbers for the Government Economic Service’s Professional Economist DAs, broken down into the various government departments that are recruiting. Again this is immensely helpful for providing realistic labour market data. The Economist DAs are all in partnership with the University of Kent and there are currently more than 50 vacancies spread around the country, with the most prominent locations including London, Manchester, Darlington, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol and Fareham.
Other annual recruiters who appeared on my radar for the first time during Week 207 were the Bank of England, National Grid and Accenture, while Nissan has also been active at its Sunderland plant.
As for my featured image, with more than half of this week’s new vacancies being in London I’ve picked out a seasonal photo I took this time last year in a West London suburb. What I was doing there is a long story!
Latest update on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Having also tracked vacancies in the three devolved nations since 1st June 2022, my latest running totals are as follows:
- Scotland: 864 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
- Wales: 229 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 172 at Levels 4/5
- Northern Ireland: 161 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 26 at Levels 4/5
My 18-month Scotland report was published earlier this month and I will continue to keep tabs on all three nations next term.
Background
Since 1st 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 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 11th to 17th December 2023 I recorded:
- 254 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
- 167 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
- giving a total of 421 for the week
In the 207 weeks from 1st January 2020 to 17th December 2023 I’ve now recorded:
- 29,986 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
- 23,477 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
- giving a total of 53,463
The average weekly totals across all 207 weeks have been:
- 145 DAs + 113 HAs = 258 average weekly total
Updated analysis by county and region
By county (loosely defined) the 53,463 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:
- Greater London (12,317)
- Yorkshire (4,686)
- West Midlands (3,407)
- Greater Manchester (3,046)
- Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,617)
- Berkshire (1,841)
- Hampshire (1,840)
- Hertfordshire (1,271)
- Surrey (1,245)
- Cheshire (1,153)
- Tyne & Wear (1,093)
- Cambridgeshire (1,033)
- Cumbria (1,029)
- Nottinghamshire (986)
- Derbyshire (971)
- Sussex (965)
- Merseyside (906)
- Lancashire (879)
- Essex (848)
- Suffolk (808)
- Devon (799)
- Buckinghamshire (734)
- Somerset & South Bristol (706)
- Dorset (689)
- Kent (672)
- Warwickshire (658)
- Leicestershire (654)
- Staffordshire (612)
- Oxfordshire (602)
- Wiltshire (602)
- Bedfordshire (596)
- County Durham (499)
- Northamptonshire (432)
- Cornwall (400)
- Norfolk (398)
- Worcestershire (381)
- Lincolnshire (359)
- Shropshire (318)
- Isle of Wight (73)
- Northumberland (72)
- Herefordshire (56)
- Rutland (15)
- 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:
- 12,317 London (1,078,600: 11.42)
- 5,813 South West (645,800: 9.00)
- 7,013 North West (884,600: 7.93)
- 7,972 South East (1,040,500: 7.66)
- 5,432 West Midlands (720,900: 7.54)
- 4,954 East of England (685,300: 7.23)
- 4,701 Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 7.01)
- 3,322 East Midlands (593,700: 5.60)
- 1,744 North East (313,000: 5.57)
- 75 Remote-working
- 120 Not specified
- 53,463 Total England (6,633,200: 8.06)
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 29,986 new vacancies spread across 112 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:
5,128 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals
4,496 Police Constables
3,049 Digital Technology Solutions (general) *see below for details
1,399 Chartered Business Managers (general)
1,216 Software Engineers/Developers
1,161 Civil Engineers
1,016 Project Managers (general)
895 Chartered Quantity Surveyors
855 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers
762 Nurses (593 Adult, 124 Mental Health, 37 Learning Disability, 8 Child)
630 Nuclear Engineers/Scientists
576 Electrical/Electronic Engineers
510 Design & Development Engineers
436 Manufacturing Engineers
410 Supply Chain Leaders
408 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals
381 Aerospace Engineers
380 Chartered Surveyors (Project Management)
357 Cyber Security Professionals
356 Food & Drink Technologists/Manufacturers
354 Building Services Engineers
342 Solicitors
339 Professional Economists
314 Digital Marketing Professionals
278 Sales Professionals
266 Laboratory Scientists
244 Retail Leaders
213 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)
183 Chartered Building Surveyors
175 Electro-Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineers
171 Construction Managers
167 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers
155 Project Controls Professionals
136 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)
117 Radiographers (62 Diagnostic, 55 Therapeutic)
116 Automation & Control Engineers
97 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers
95 Occupational Therapists
93 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers
76 Hotel/Hospitality Chartered Managers
75 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers
71 Podiatrists
69 Creative Digital Designers
67 Building Control Surveyors
67 Chemical Engineers
62 Town Planners
58 Packaging Professionals
58 Social Workers
54 Clinical Trials Specialists
53 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers
49 Architectural Technologists (Design & Construction)
49 Land Agents (Chartered Rural Surveyors)
44 Human Resources Professionals
41 Environmental Health Officers
40 Manufacturing/Production Managers (non-food)
38 Transport Planners
35 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers
33 Geospatial/Land Surveyors
32 Recruitment Professionals
31 Journalists
30 Public Health Practitioners
29 Architectural Assistants
27 Physiotherapists
25 Marketing/Brand Managers
24 Aerospace Software Engineers
23 Fire Safety Engineers
23 Geotechnical Engineers
18 Insurance Professionals
15 Forestry Professionals
13 Environmental Engineers
13 Midwives
13 Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners
11 Chartered Managers (Sports Business)
11 Dietitians
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
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 108 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 / NetOps 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, Rail Signal 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 23,477 new vacancies spread across 1498 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:
1,953 Sales Executives
1,559 Accounting Technicians
1,519 Software Developers
1,517 Data Analysts
1,433 Project Management Associates
1,136 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)
794 Nursing Associates (Adult/Elderly/Mental Health/Learning Disability)
694 Construction Site Supervisors
677 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians
600 Quantity Surveying Technicians
581 Network Engineers
573 Taxation Technicians
569 Business Analysts
455 Cyber Security Technologists
445 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners
417 Software Testers
408 Public Relations & Communications Assistants
380 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians
328 Social Care Practitioners (Adults/Children/Families/Young People)
327 Electrical/Electronic Technician Engineers
321 Investment Operations Specialists
320 Buying & Merchandising Assistants
316 Building Services Engineering Technicians
316 Insurance Practitioners
269 Junior Management Consultants
259 Healthcare Assistant Practitioners (150 Reablement, 69 Multidisciplinary, 12 Diagnostic Imaging, 6 Mammography, 6 Podiatry, 5 Speech Therapy, 3 Continuing Healthcare, 3 Intensive Care, 2 Dietetic Speech & Language, 1 Maternity Support Worker, 1 Occupational Therapy, 1 Stroke Rehabilitation)
259 Technician Scientists
258 Retail Managers
242 DevOps Engineers
233 Marketing Executives
229 Construction Design & Build Technicians
200 Policy Practitioners
195 Police Community Support Officers
193 Early Years Lead Practitioners
189 Regulatory Compliance Officers
171 Associate Ambulance Practitioners
154 Mineral Products Technicians
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)
142 Human Resources Specialists
141 Railway Engineering Technicians
131 Quality Assurance Practitioners
125 Food Technology/Manufacturing Technicians
122 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners
122 Nuclear Technicians
113 Hospitality Managers
90 Internal Audit Practitioners
87 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians
84 Actuarial Technicians
83 Journalists
80 Intelligence Analysts
73 Recruitment Consultants
72 Vehicle Damage Assessors
71 Brewers
65 Financial Paraplanners
64 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians
59 Business Operations Managers
57 Applications Support Leads
57 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers
56 Audiovisual Technicians
52 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors
48 Market Research Executives
47 Business Improvement Practitioners
43 Dairy Technologists
43 Information Managers
43 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators
36 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers
32 BEMS Controls Engineers (Building Energy Management Systems)
31 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians
30 Air Traffic Controllers
30 Engineering Maintenance Technicians
26 Paralegals
25 Engineer Surveyors
24 Estate Agency Negotiators
23 Countryside Rangers
21 Land Referencers
19 Acoustics Technicians
18 Digital Community Managers
17 Digital Accessibility Specialists
15 Fibre Cable Engineers
15 Smart Energy Engineers
12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians
12 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 Digital Product Managers
7 Fire Safety Inspectors
7 Historic Environment Advice Assistants
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 Padel Coaches
4 Space Engineering Technicians
4 Tax Technology Technicians
3 Arboriculturists
3 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Technicians
3 Culinary Chefs
3 Fashion & Textiles Technologists
3 Junior Animators
3 Music Recording Technicians
3 Outdoor Learning Specialist
3 Payroll Associates
3 Pensions Administrators
3 Sports Development Officers
3 Utilities Technicians
3 Visual Effects Artists
2 Auctioneers
2 Chaplains
2 Cricket Coaches
2 Digital Learning Designers
2 Energy Specialists
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 Fitness Club Manager
1 Fitness Instructor
1 Governance Officer
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, 17/12/2023
Alan Bullock Careers 