Are you Apprenticeship Ready?
For an employer there are so many things to think about in order to decide if you feel ready to employ an Apprentice.

To help you consider what it means to offer quality Apprenticeship opportunities, including the actions you may need to undertake to become Apprenticeship Ready, please find the Apprenticeship Ready Checklist as 

Apprenticeship checklist
Getting started
1. Identify a job.
2. Ensure you can offer 30 hours per week for at least a year.
3. Match the job with one of the frameworks.
4. Research your funding options.
5. Contact us to discuss your apprenticeship opportunity at which point we will
advise you on training providers and next steps for funding…
Creating an apprenticeship
6. Write a job description
7. Give some thought to salary – can you afford more than minimum wage, particularly if there is a subsidy available to you? Are you paying what the job is worth? e.g if you’re training a front of house assistant, ask yourself what you would pay a qualified Front of House Assistant. Is the apprenticeship salary you’re offering a fair
reflection of a training wage for that role?
8. Identify a member of staff available to you who can mentor the apprentice.
9. Be sure the skills you want the apprentice to gain exist within your organisation and can be passed on through this scheme.
10. Ensure everyone understands you will be releasing your apprentice to study during work time.
11. Establish when and where the training will take place and communicate that to your team.
12. Determine how the apprentices will document their evidence for assessment.

Do you have equipment you can make available such as a camera? If not talk to your
training provider about alternative methods of collecting evidence.

13. Give your policies a health check and update where necessary… There is no right or wrong to this process but your training provider will want to see that you will treat your apprentice as a member of staff, subject to the same rights
and opportunities as the rest of you team.
a. Health & Safety Policy – demonstrate that you will risk assess the areas the apprentice will work in and give them a good induction relating to health & safety when they start.
b. Equality & Diversity Policy – demonstrate good practice across the board in terms of recruitment, environment and opportunity.
c. Performance Management – show how you will manage the apprentice, he/she will be a member of staff and therefore subject to the same performance measurement as everyone else.
Having these policies to hand will help speed up the process and give the institution assurance that you are a reliable employer.
14. Get a contract ready. You can use your own employment template with an addendum relating to the apprenticeship e.g. training location and time etc.
15. DBS checks are not a prerequisite to taking on an apprentice however if the apprentice will spend the majority of their time with one individual without any other employees present, the institution may request a DBS is carried out.
16. So you’ve explored the website, communicated with your organisation, done your preparation, now collate the following in one place and not only are you ready to meet with your training provider, you’re ready for your apprentice…
Document Tick when complete

  • Top of Form
  • Job Description
  • Bottom of Form
  • Matched Framework
  • Budget & funding application where needed
  • In-house Mentor
  • Communication Planning
  • Health & Safety Policy
  •  Equality & Diversity Policy
  • Performance Management Plan
  • DBS checks where needed
  • Pro-forma Contract
  • Training Provider confirmed

Finally, contact us and let us help you recruit!