Immediate Apprenticeship Opportunities
This page provides current news about new Apprenticeships and opportunities in Bedfordshire, Luton & Milton Keynes:
The government is promising more training for people aged 21 and under in England
The government is promising more training for people aged 21 and under in England, as it plans to scrap funding for postgraduate apprenticeships. From January 2026, only 16 to 21-year-olds and those who are under 25 who are care leavers or have an Emotional Heath & Care Plan (EHCP), will qualify for funding for level 7 apprenticeships, the highest level. This means many higher apprenticeships would now have to be completely paid for by employers.
Apprenticeships in England are available for those aged 16 and over, and combine practical training in a job with study and take between one and five years to complete, depending on their level. For example, a level 2 apprenticeship is considered the equivalent of a GCSE, while a level 6 apprenticeship is considered equivalent to a bachelor’s degree and a level 7 a master’s degree.
Overall the government is promising to create 120,000 more training opportunities for young adults, and those who need to retrain. An increase in a charge paid by employers recruiting from outside the UK will also be used to create 45,000 training places, which will be built onto existing programmes aimed at helping adults get into work.
Since an apprenticeship levy for large employers was introduced in 2017, there has been a boom in higher qualifications at degree or postgraduate level, while the numbers of young adults starting entry apprenticeships at level 2 have fallen dramatically. The changes not only follow a prolonged decline in apprenticeship starts, but also come amid concerns about the number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEETs).
Health & Social Care Is One Of The Leading Industries For Apprenticeships
The Find Apprenticeships website names Health & Social Care as one of the top industries for people to consider undertaking an apprenticeship in. They put this down to the ‘wide spectrum’ of roles and opportunities that Health & Social Care covers.
Furthermore, with the drive for the future of NHS services to become more community and neighbourhood focused, more sustainable in impacting positively in the lives of the UK population and, ‘Greener’ and more environmentally sustainable i.e. more proactive in recruiting employees from the communities they serve, now is the time for you to think about what part you can play by having a rewarding career in Health & Social Care, which drives this change.
Find Apprenticeships main aim is to help budding apprentices connect with leading apprentice employers and apprenticeship training providers.
The full article can be found here:
Top Industries Offering Apprenticeships in the UK in 2024 (findapprenticeships.co.uk)
Passport To NHS Careers Course
As part of our More & Different Employment Pathways work that the ICB is doing in partnership with Breaking Barriers Innovations, we are pleased to announce that the fifth Passport To NHS Careers Course will run in September in Luton. The course is designed to dispel myths about working in the NHS and open people’s eyes about the 350+ different roles that are available.
The course was co-designed with a wide array of system partners and covers myth busting about working in the NHS and NHS careers, transferable skills that NHS employers are looking for, researching the 350+ roles that the NHS has to offer, presentations and demonstrations from NHS services, goal setting, effective job-searching, application and supporting statement writing, interview skills and next steps.
The course is suited to those who would love to work in the NHS, but don’t know where to start, those who’ve no idea of what they’d like to do, or for those who want to do a job that involves helping others, but not sure exactly in what capacity. For further information on the Passport To NHS Careers Course, please email: passport@lutonacl.ac.uk