Week 217: Degree & Higher Apprenticeships overview – another steady week

Latest reflections on the situation in England

After the annual mid-February peak that coincided with National Apprenticeship Week, things have now settled back into a steadier pattern as I expected. Hence, this week was characterised by regional and occupational breadth rather by anything speactacular.

The highlights that did get picked up on my radar included 13 Supply Chain Professionals with GXO Logistics, 10 Construction Site Supervisors with VINCI Building, 9 Civil Engineers with AECOM, 9 Building Services Engineers with Schneider Electric, 8 Chartered Managers with NIQ in Oxford and a few more Solicitor DAs that I hadn’t previously spotted. Meanwhile, Chartered Quantity Surveyors became the eighth occupational area to reach 1,000 vacancies in my DA table.

Regarding NIQ, at first the name meant nothing to me but I then realised they’re also known as NielsenIQ, who I’m certainly aware of for their reputation as the global leader in consumer intelligence. In fact Nielsen was a big name when I studied Marketing myself, and that was fifty year ago!

Other small highlights included a Chartered Manager on the Isle of Sheppey and a Cardiac Physiologist on the Isle of Wight, and it was also good to see plenty of activity in the North East, East Midlands and Yorkshire & The Humber regions, all of whom easily outscored the normally-buoyant South West on this occasion. I also know of three readers who will be pleased that Billingham, Bromsgrove and Luton all popped up on the radar too. However, the crop of NIQ vacancies led me to choose one of my Oxford photos as this week’s featured image. It was taken in winter a few years ago.

Headline data (England)

Since 1^st January 2020 I’ve been continuously tracking new vacancies that would be suitable for Level 3 school/college leavers to apply for during their final year of full-time education or within a year of leaving. During the latest one-week period from 26^th February to 3^rd March 2024 I recorded:

126 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
95 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 221 for the week

In the 217 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 3^rd March 2024 I’ve now recorded:

32,549 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
24,977 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 57,526

The average weekly totals across all 217 weeks have been:

150 DAs + 115 HAs = 265 average weekly total

Latest update on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

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

Scotland: 1,005 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
Wales: 244 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 191 at Levels 4/5
Northern Ireland: 172 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 25 at Levels 4/5

To coincide with Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2024 (#ScotAppWeek24) and to celebrate reaching 1,000 vacancies, I decided to publish a new quarterly Scotland report simultaneously with this week’s England report. Anyone who’s interested can read it here:

Analysis of 1,000 Level 10 Graduate Apprenticeships in Scotland – for #scotappweek24

All being well I will also publish Wales and Northern Ireland updates in June.

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 57,526 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

Greater London (12,937)
Yorkshire (5,158)
West Midlands (3,743)
Greater Manchester (3,205)
Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,838)
Hampshire (2,012)
Berkshire (1,914)
Surrey (1,317)
Hertfordshire (1,316)
Cheshire (1,256)
Tyne & Wear (1,201)
Cambridgeshire (1,123)
Nottinghamshire (1,084)
Derbyshire (1,083)
Cumbria (1,079)
Sussex (1,029)
Merseyside (987)
Lancashire (935)
Essex (898)
Devon (883)
Warwickshire (879)
Suffolk (843)
Buckinghamshire (791)
Somerset & South Bristol (757)
Dorset (731)
Kent (725)
Wiltshire (692)
Leicestershire (691)
Oxfordshire (679)
Bedfordshire (649)
Staffordshire (639)
County Durham (547)
Northamptonshire (459)
Cornwall (417)
Lincolnshire (413)
Norfolk (413)
Worcestershire (390)
Shropshire (338)
Isle of Wight (82)
Northumberland (77)
Herefordshire (59)
Rutland (18)
Remote-working, with no fixed central base (90)
County not specified (149)

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 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:

12,937 London (1,078,600: 11.99)
6,327 South West (645,800: 9.80)
7,462 North West (884,600: 8.44)
6,048 West Midlands (720,900: 8.39)
8,549 South East (1,040,500: 8.22)
5,170 Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 7.71)
5,262 East of England (685,300: 7.68)
3,636 East Midlands (593,700: 6.12)
1,905 North East (313,000: 6.09)
90 Remote-working
140 Region not specified

57,526 Total England (6,633,200: 8.67)

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. In fact, if we took Greater London out of the equation, then currently the western side of the country seems to be better served than the eastern side. I’m keeping an eye on this to see if there’s any real substance in my observation and whether indeed there’s more of an east/west divide than 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 32,549 new vacancies spread across 115 occupational areas and starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £36,822pa, with the average being somewhere in the middle at around £19K to £20K. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

5,490 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals

4,696 Police Constables

3,262 Digital Technology Solutions: General *see below for details

1,384 Chartered Managers: General Business

1,364 Civil Engineers

1,319 Software Engineers/Developers

1,069 Project Managers: General

1,002 Chartered Quantity Surveyors

920 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

789 Nurses (609 Adult, 129 Mental Health, 42 Learning Disability, 9 Child)

661 Nuclear Engineers

637 Electrical & Electronic Engineers

590 Design & Development Engineers

553 Manufacturing Engineers

477 Supply Chain Professionals

443 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

433 Chartered Surveyors: Project Management / General Practice

421 Solicitors

405 Building Services Engineers

400 Aerospace Engineers

374 Cyber Security Professionals

347 Professional Economists

320 Digital Marketing Professionals

296 Laboratory Scientists

294 Sales Professionals

268 Chartered Managers: Retail Leadership

252 Environmental Practitioners

222 Food & Drink Technologists

217 Healthcare Science Practitioners (45 Biomedical Sciences, 30 Cardiac Physiology, 24 Nuclear Medicine, 24 Radiation Physics, 19 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 17 Clinical/Medical Engineering, 17 Radiation Engineering, 13 Audiology, 13 Neurophysiology, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 5 Medical Physics, 3 Clinical Informatics, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Technology)

202 Electromechanical/Mechatronics Engineers

201 Chartered Building Surveyors

194 Railway & Rail Systems Engineers

184 Construction Managers

161 Control Technical Support Engineers

159 Chartered Managers: Food/Drink Manufacturing & Production

156 Project Controls Professionals

141 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

118 Radiographers (62 Diagnostic, 56 Therapeutic)

110 Occupational Therapists

101 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers

100 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers

84 Design & Construction Managers / Architectural Technologists

81 Social Workers

80 Chemical Engineers

80 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

78 Podiatrists

76 Chartered Managers: Hotels & Hospitality

72 Creative Digital Designers

72 Town Planners

71 Chartered Managers: Recruitment Professionals

68 Building Control Surveyors

58 Packaging Professionals

56 Clinical Trials Specialists

53 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers

52 Chartered Rural Surveyors (Land Agents)

48 Marine/Submarine Engineers

44 Human Resources & People Professionals

42 Chartered Managers: Manufacturing/Production (non-food)

42 Environmental Health Officers

40 Transport Planners

37 Social Researchers

36 Chartered Geospatial/Land Surveyors

36 Chartered Managers: Marketing

35 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers

34 Chartered Managers: Social Change, Charities & Voluntary Sector

32 Physiotherapists

31 Journalists

30 Public Health Practitioners

29 Architectural Assistants

29 Fire Safety Engineers

25 Geotechnical Engineers

24 Aerospace Software Engineers

21 Insurance Professionals

15 Forestry Professionals

13 Environmental Engineers

13 Midwives

13 Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners

13 Speech & Language Therapists

12 Dietitians

12 Theme Park Engineers

11 Chartered Managers: Sports Business

9 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

9 Propulsion Engineers

8 Gas Transmission Engineers

7 Chartered Managers: Buying & Procurement

7 Land Buyers

6 Actuarial Professionals

6 Chartered Legal Executives

6 Sport Development Officers

5 Chartered Managers: Fitness & Leisure Centres

5 Operations Analysts

5 Trading Standards Officers

4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches

4 Chartered Managers: Theme Parks

3 Assistant Archivists

3 Digital Transformation Engineers

3 Education Technology Specialists

3 Orthotists/Prosthetists

3 Risk & Safety Management Practitioners

3 TV Production Managers

2 Licensed Conveyancers

2 Lighting Designers

2 Pensions Professionals

2 Sonographers

2 Youth Workers

1 AI Data Specialist

1 Community Centre Manager

1 Events Manager

1 Facilities Manager

1 Games Programmer

1 Human Performance Engineer

1 Resilience & Emergencies Professional

1 Robotics Engineer

1 Service Designer

1 Space Systems Engineer

*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 111 different job titles:

Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Tester, Cyber Security Specialist, IT Consultant, Network Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, 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, Credit Trading Technologist, People (HR) Solutions 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/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, Telecommunications Engineer, Sales Engineer, Sales Account Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Sales Data Analyst, AI Technical Sales Adviser, 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, Scientific Computing 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 24,977 new vacancies spread across 153 occupational areas and starting salaries have ranged from £5,002 to £38,469pa. The average is around £17K to £18K, except for Sports Coaches which are usually around £10K or lower. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

2,039 Sales Executives

1,660 Accounting Technicians

1,594 Data Analysts

1,562 Software Developers

1,542 Project Management Associates

1,168 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)

886 Nursing Associates

754 Construction Site Supervisors

699 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

660 Quantity Surveying Technicians

598 Network Engineers

594 Business Analysts

593 Taxation Technicians

487 Cyber Security Technologists

472 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

434 Software Testers

420 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

418 Electrical & Electronic Technician Engineers

416 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

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

343 Building Services Engineering Technicians

340 Investment Operations Specialists

325 Buying & Merchandising Assistants

320 Insurance Practitioners

311 Junior Management Consultants

265 Retail Managers

264 Technician Scientists

259 Healthcare Associate 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)

254 DevOps Engineers

248 Marketing Executives

235 Construction Design & Build Technicians

211 Early Years Lead Practitioners

200 Policy Practitioners

196 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

195 Police Community Support Officers

194 Regulatory Compliance Officers

170 Mineral Products Technicians

167 Healthcare Science Associates/Technicians (61 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers, 42 Medical Engineering, 20 Cardiac & Respiratory Physiology, 15 Genetics Technology, 13 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 4 Clinical Chemistry, 4 Tissue Retrieval, 2 Medical Physics, 2 Phlebotomy, 1 Biomedicine, 1 Neurophysiology, 1 Nuclear Medicine, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering)

150 People Professionals / HR Specialists

150 Railway Engineering Technicians

143 Food Technology Technicians / Food Manufacturing Process Leaders

140 Quality Practitioners/Engineers

134 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners

127 Nuclear Technicians

117 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians

116 Hospitality Managers

92 Internal Audit Practitioners

91 Actuarial Technicians

90 Intelligence Analysts

83 Journalists

81 Vehicle Damage Assessors

75 Recruitment Consultants

74 Financial Advisers/Paraplanners

72 Brewers

69 Applications Support Leads

68 Audiovisual Technicians

65 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

64 Business Operations Managers

57 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers

54 Dairy Technologists

54 Market Research Executives

53 Building Information (BIM) Managers

53 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors

49 Business Improvement Practitioners

43 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

41 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

36 Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Engineers

36 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

36 Paralegals

32 Air Traffic Controllers

31 Aircraft Engineering Technicians

31 Engineering Maintenance Technicians

27 Estate Agency Negotiators

25 Engineer Surveyors

23 Countryside Rangers

22 Land Referencers

20 Acoustics Technicians

18 Digital Accessibility Specialists

18 Digital Community Managers

15 Facilities Managers

15 Fibre Cable Engineers

15 Smart Energy Engineers

12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

12 Hygiene Specialists

11 Data Protection Officers

11 Film/TV Post-Production Technical Operators

11 Football Coaches

11 Gymnastics Coaches

10 Aviation Operations Managers

10 Employability Practitioners

9 Counter Fraud Investigators

9 Historic Environment Advice Assistants

9 Marine Engineering Technicians

9 Railway/Passenger Transport Operations Managers

9 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment)

9 Town Planning Technicians

8 Antisocial Behaviour & Community Safety Officers

8 School Business Professionals

7 Asset Managers

7 Computer Games Developers

7 Dental Technicians

7 Digital Product Managers

7 Fire Safety Inspectors

7 Port Marine Operations Officers

6 Music Teachers

5 Architectural Technicians

5 Broadcasting Technical Operators

5 Digital Learning Designers

5 Early Intervention Practitioners

5 Outdoor Learning Specialists

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 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 Auctioneers

2 Chaplains

2 Cricket Coaches

2 Energy Specialists

2 Governance Officers

2 Lifting Equipment Operations Engineers

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 Goalkeeping Coach

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 Small Vessel Chief Engineer

1 Tennis Coach

1 Wedding Accessories Designer

1 Wedding Venue Co-ordinator

Going forward

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

Footnote: How the data has been collected

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 very close tabs 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 twelve 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 precise 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 significant 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. The prominence of STEM occupations in my listings is also very noticeable.

One further significant observation is that NHS and other healthcare roles have become increasingly prominent in my data over time, thanks especially to the wonderful 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 NHS vacancies are 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 social care field and/or those with significant work/voluntary experience or caring responsibilities, who would be capable of making a very competitive application for such roles. Hence, I do include these vacancies if I think a mature 18/19-year-old would be considered, especially within a year of leaving school or college.

Finally, there’s sometimes an element of doubt about whether to include a vacancy under Degree or Higher. My approach to this is to count a vacancy as ‘Degree’ if it starts at Level 4 and moves seamlessly on to Level 6 or 7, but as ‘Higher’ if it starts at Level 4 with an option to progress to Level 6 as opposed to an expectation.

Although my data is not stored electronically, I do have a written record of all 57,526 vacancies with details of the employer, occupation, location(s), minimum starting salary (if known) and, in the case of DAs, minimum entry grades and degree provider. As a guidance practitioner myself it’s been an incredibly illuminating and informative process, transforming my own perceptions about the labour market.