Week 229: Degree & Higher Apprenticeships overview – all my latest data

Latest reflections on the situation in England

I didn’t publish a report last week, so here’s a brief update with all my latest data below. This is always a fairly quiet time of year for new vacancies and I recorded just 200 new opportunities over the two-week period, but as always there were some interesting new additions including:

4 Healthcare Science Practitioner DAs specialising in Audiology in Gateshead, Boscombe and St Helens
4 Materials Science Technologist DAs in Manchester
3 Environmental Health Officer DAs in Redhill, Haywards Heath and Cheltenham
2 Public Health Practitioner DAs in Scunthorpe and Wokingham
A Trading Standards Officer DA in Bristol, a Health Play Specialist HA in Liverpool and a Music Recording Technician HA in East London

As there were no outstanding regional hotspots, I’ve made a somewhat random choice of featured image. It’s unusual for Bridgnorth in Shropshire to appear on my apprenticeships radar, but it was the location of an Accountancy DA this week and hence I’ve dusted down a photo I took there in 2015 en route to giving a talk at a school near Shrewsbury.

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 two-week period from 13^th to 26^th May I recorded:

75 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
125 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 200 for the two weeks

In the 229 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 26^th May 2024 I’ve now recorded:

33,294 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
26,169 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 59,463

The average weekly totals across all 229 weeks have been:

145 DAs + 114 HAs = 259 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: 1,095 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
Wales: 289 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 194 at Levels 4/5
Northern Ireland: 172 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 31 at Levels 4/5

If I can find enough time, I hope to publish two-year Scotland and Wales updates early in June.

Updated occupational analysis

Every week I update my occupational analysis, breaking the England 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 33,294 new vacancies spread across 111 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:

5,516 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals

4,696 Police Constables

3,304 Digital Technology Solutions: General *see below for details

1,458 Civil Engineers

1,407 Chartered Managers: General Business

1,326 Software Engineers/Developers

1,082 Project Managers: General

1,035 Chartered Quantity Surveyors

938 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

835 Nurses (625 Adult, 150 Mental Health, 49 Learning Disability, 11 Child)

665 Nuclear Engineers

653 Electrical & Electronic Engineers

624 Design & Development Engineers

577 Manufacturing Engineers

486 Supply Chain Professionals

449 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

448 Building Services Design Engineers

447 Chartered Surveyors: Project Management / Real Estate / General Practice

424 Solicitors

400 Aerospace Engineers

398 Cyber Security Professionals

347 Professional Economists

340 Digital Marketing Professionals

312 Laboratory Scientists

312 Sales Professionals

268 Chartered Managers: Retail Leadership

259 Environmental Practitioners

255 Healthcare Science Practitioners (62 Biomedical Sciences, 31 Cardiac Physiology, 27 Radiotherapy Physics, 26 Nuclear Medicine, 21 Audiology, 20 Medical Engineering, 20 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 17 Radiation Engineering, 15 Neurophysiology, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 5 Medical Physics, 3 Clinical Informatics, 1 Diagnostic Radiology, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Technology)

223 Food Technologists

214 Electromechanical Engineers

213 Chartered Building Surveyors

197 Railway & Rail Systems Engineers

186 Construction Site Managers

167 Food/Drink Manufacturing & Production Managers

164 Control Technical Support & Control Systems Engineers

162 Project Controls Professionals

159 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

127 Occupational Therapists

119 Radiographers (63 Diagnostic, 56 Therapeutic)

109 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers

102 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers

94 Social Workers

88 Podiatrists

84 Design & Construction Managers / Architectural Technologists

82 Chemical/Plant Engineers

80 Creative Digital Designers

80 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

77 Chartered Managers: Hotels & Hospitality

74 Town Planners

71 Chartered Managers: Recruitment

68 Building Control Surveyors

61 Clinical Trials Specialists

59 Packaging Professionals

56 Environmental Health Officers

53 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers

52 Chartered Rural Surveyors (Land Agents)

48 Marine/Submarine Engineers

45 Social Researchers

44 Human Resources & People Professionals

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

40 Transport Planners

38 Marketing/Brand Managers

37 Chartered Geospatial/Land Surveyors

37 Physiotherapists

36 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Engineers

34 Chartered Managers: Social Change, Charities & Voluntary Sector

33 Architectural Assistants

33 Fire Safety Engineers

32 Public Health Practitioners

31 Journalists

25 Aerospace Software Engineers

22 Insurance Professionals

22 Midwives

20 Chartered Managers: Sports Business & Development

20 Speech & Language Therapists

15 Forestry Professionals

13 Environmental Engineers

12 Dietitians

12 Theme Park Engineers

9 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

9 Chartered Surveyors: Land Buyers

9 Propulsion Engineers

8 Gas Transmission Engineers

8 Youth Workers

7 Chartered Managers: Buying & Procurement

6 Actuarial Professionals

6 Chartered Legal Executives

6 Trading Standards Officers

5 Chartered Managers: Fitness & Leisure Centres

5 Operations Analysts

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

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 119 different job titles, which I’ve subdivided into themed groups to make it a bit more digestible:

Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Tester
Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Global Data Analyst, Data Product Specialist, Sales Data Analyst, Data Engineer, Data Architect
Network Architect, Enterprise Architect, Digital Solutions Architect, Technology Architect
IT Consultant, Solutions Consultant, Software Consultant, Software Implementation Consultant, Technical Consultant, Technology Consultant, Functional Consultant, Business Consultant, Dynamics Consultant, Security Consultant, Client Consultant, Application Management Consultant, Microsoft Dynamics & Power Applications Consultant, AI Technical Sales Adviser
Network Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Digital Solutions Engineer, Digital Engineer, Digital & Technology Engineer, Digital Manufacturing Engineer, Hardware Engineer, Systems Engineer, Business Systems Engineer, Automation Engineer, Controls Engineer, IT Engineer, IT Support Engineer, Technical Support Engineer, Service Desk Engineer, Cloud Engineer, Quality Assurance Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Telecommunications Engineer, Sales Engineer, Electronic Systems Design & Development Engineer
Digital Developer, Application Developer, Business Systems Developer, Business Intelligence (BI) Developer, Automation Developer, Automation Test Developer, Full Stack Developer, Prototype Developer, WordPress Developer
Innovation Technologist, Legal Technologist, Credit Trading Technologist, Global Equities Technologist, People (HR) Solutions Technologist
Business Analyst, Business Technology Analyst, Cyber Security Analyst, 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, Network Strategy Analyst, Global Mobility Analyst, Content Analyst, Security Operations Analyst, Process Mining Analyst, SAP Analyst
Technology Manager, Junior Product Manager, Sales Account Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Platform Manager, Service Manager, Engineering Information Manager, Associate Digital Delivery Manager, Project Manager, Project Co-ordinator, IT Support & Helpdesk Administrator
Infrastructure Specialist, FinTech Specialist, DevOps/NetOps Specialist, Client Success Specialist, Digital Project Delivery Support Specialist, 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, Technology Operations & Service Delivery Specialist, Solution Engineering & Development Specialist, Client Delivery Specialist, Microsoft 365 Product Specialist, IT Governance & Applications Support Specialist, Operations Resilience & Change Specialist, Innovation Foundry Specialist, Continuous Improvement & Automation Specialist
Digital Development Officer, Public Health Intelligence Officer
IT/Computing Technician, Second Line Support Technician
User Experience Researcher, Content Strategist, Digital Social Media Executive

Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5):

In total there have been 26,169 new vacancies spread across 155 occupational areas and starting salaries have ranged from £5,002 to £40,300pa. The average is around £17K to £18K, except for Sports Coaches which are usually around £10K or lower. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

2,158 Sales Executives

1,684 Accounting Technicians

1,630 Data Analysts

1,598 Software Developers

1,591 Project Management Associates

1,263 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)

990 Nursing Associates

791 Construction Site Supervisors

734 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

686 Quantity Surveying Technicians

627 Network Engineers

608 Business Analysts

606 Taxation Technicians

484 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

477 Cyber Security Technologists

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

442 Software Testers

439 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

430 Electrical & Electronic Technician Engineers

425 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

364 Building Services Engineering Technicians

364 Investment Operations Specialists

342 Insurance Practitioners

325 Buying & Merchandising Assistants

311 Junior Management Consultants

271 Retail Managers

270 Technician Scientists

267 DevOps Engineers

262 Healthcare Associate Practitioners (150 Reablement, 69 Multidisciplinary, 12 Diagnostic Imaging, 8 Mammography, 6 Podiatry, 5 Speech Therapy, 3 Continuing Healthcare, 3 Intensive Care, 2 Dietetic Speech & Language, 1 Critical Care, 1 Maternity Support, 1 Occupational Therapy, 1 Stroke Rehabilitation)

259 Marketing Executives

249 Construction Design & Build / Architectural Technicians

232 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

216 Early Years Lead Practitioners

204 Regulatory Compliance Officers

201 Policy Practitioners

195 Police Community Support Officers

175 Healthcare Science Associates/Technicians (61 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensing, 42 Medical Engineering, 21 Genetics Technology, 20 Cardiac & Respiratory Physiology, 14 Sleep & Respiratory Physiology, 4 Clinical Chemistry, 4 Tissue Retrieval, 2 Medical Physics, 2 Phlebotomy, 1 Biomedicine, 1 Neurophysiology, 1 Nuclear Medicine, 1 Orthoptics, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering)

172 Mineral Products Technicians

159 Railway Engineering Technicians

157 People Professionals / HR Specialists

147 Food Production Technicians & Process Leaders

145 Quality Assurance Practitioners/Engineers

139 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners

129 Nuclear Technicians

121 Automotive Engineering Technicians

117 Air Traffic Controllers (mainly RAF)

117 Hospitality Managers

96 Vehicle Damage Assessors

94 Internal Audit Practitioners

92 Actuarial Technicians

90 Intelligence Analysts

90 Journalists

75 Applications Support Leads

75 Audiovisual Technicians

75 Brewers

75 Financial Advisers/Paraplanners

75 Recruitment Consultants

70 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

65 Business Operations Managers

60 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers

57 Market Research Executives

55 Information Managers

54 Dairy Technologists

54 Learning & Skills Practitioners/Mentors

53 Business Improvement Practitioners

45 Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Engineers

43 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

41 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

41 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

40 Engineering Maintenance Technicians

36 Paralegals

33 Aircraft Engineering Technicians

31 Countryside Rangers

28 Estate Agency Sales Negotiators

25 Engineer Surveyors

22 Land Referencers

20 Acoustics Technicians

20 Digital Accessibility Specialists

18 Digital Community Managers

15 Data Protection Officers

15 Facilities Managers

15 Fibre Cable Engineers

15 Smart Energy Engineers

13 Football Coaches

12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

12 Hygiene Specialists

12 Passenger Transport Operations Managers

11 Film/TV Post-Production Technical Operators

11 Governance Officers

11 Gymnastics Coaches

11 Historic Environment Advice / Archaeological Assistants

10 Aviation Operations Managers

10 Employability Practitioners

10 Town Planning Technicians

9 Antisocial Behaviour & Community Safety Officers

9 Counter Fraud Investigators

9 Marine Engineering Technicians

9 Port Marine Operations Officers

9 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment)

8 Dental Technicians

8 School Business Professionals

7 Asset Managers

7 Computer Games Developers

7 Digital Product Managers

7 Early Intervention Practitioners

7 Fire Safety Inspectors

6 Digital Learning Designers

6 Music Teachers

6 Outdoor Learning Specialists

5 Broadcasting Technical Operators

5 Unified Communications Troubleshooters

5 Visual Merchandisers

4 Aircraft Certifying Technicians

4 Arboriculturists / Tree Officers

4 Music Recording Technicians

4 Padel Coaches

4 Space Engineering Technicians

4 Tax Technology 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 Auctioneers

2 Chaplains

2 Cricket Coaches

2 Energy Specialists

2 Health Play Specialist

2 Horticultural/Landscaping Technicians

2 Lifting Equipment Operations Engineers

2 Marine Pilots

2 Publishing Professionals

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 Hotel Reception Manager

1 Lighting Designer

1 Metrology Technician

1 Proposals Co-ordinator

1 Small Vessel Chief Engineer

1 Tennis Coach

1 Wedding Accessories Designer

1 Wedding Venue Co-ordinator

1 Youth Justice Practitioner

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 59,463 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

Greater London (13,251)
Yorkshire (5,322)
West Midlands (3,812)
Greater Manchester (3,295)
Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,922)
Hampshire (2,097)
Berkshire (1,953)
Hertfordshire (1,362)
Surrey (1,362)
Cheshire (1,286)
Tyne & Wear (1,244)
Cambridgeshire (1,154)
Nottinghamshire (1,128)
Derbyshire (1,114)
Cumbria (1,112)
Sussex (1,071)
Merseyside (1,017)
Lancashire (976)
Essex (951)
Devon (914)
Warwickshire (905)
Suffolk (867)
Buckinghamshire (825)
Somerset & South Bristol (799)
Kent (779)
Dorset (749)
Leicestershire (727)
Oxfordshire (719)
Wiltshire (707)
Bedfordshire (694)
Staffordshire (661)
County Durham (557)
Northamptonshire (478)
Lincolnshire (439)
Norfolk (428)
Cornwall (424)
Worcestershire (410)
Shropshire (376)
Northumberland (85)
Isle of Wight (82)
Herefordshire (64)
Rutland (19)
Remote-working or flexible location (105)
Region specified but not county (87)
Unspecified region (134)

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:

13,251 London (1,078,600: 12.29)
6,524 South West (645,800: 10.10)
6,282 West Midlands (720,900: 8.71)
7,686 North West (884,600: 8.69)
8,888 South East (1,040,500: 8.54)
5,346 Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 7.97)
5,456 East of England (685,300: 7.96)
3,818 East Midlands (593,700: 6.43)
1,973 North East (313,000: 6.30)
105 Remote or flexible
134 Unspecified region

59,463 Total England (6,633,200: 8.96)

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.

NB The Teesside area of North Yorkshire is in the North East region (not Yorkshire & The Humber) and North East Lincolnshire is in the Yorkshire & The Humber region (not East Midlands).
The 87 vacancies for which the region was specified but not the county were in West Midlands (48), East Midlands (24), South West (9) and Yorkshire & The Humber (6).

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, and where you live is a factor as well. To a certain extent there’s probably a mismatch between students’ aspirations and the actual occupations available too, 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 59,463 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.

https://alanbullockcareers.com