NHS apprenticeships

An NHS apprenticeship is a paid job with training and study built in. A trust or another NHS employer employs you and you work for most of the week. A training provider or university covers the rest of your learning. Apprenticeships exist in clinical jobs such as healthcare support worker, nursing associate and registered nurse, and in non-clinical areas such as business administration, finance, IT and estates.

Clinical routes

The usual starting point is a healthcare support worker or healthcare assistant apprenticeship, which leads into jobs at band 2 or band 3. From there the ladder goes up through the nursing associate apprenticeship to the nursing degree apprenticeship, which ends in registration as a nurse. Other degree apprenticeships cover occupational therapy, physiotherapy and paramedic practice, although the number of places varies a lot between trusts and regions.

Apprentices who already work as healthcare assistants can often move across without leaving their trust. The route described in from healthcare assistant to nurse uses exactly this mechanism.

Non-clinical routes

Hospitals need a large back office. Apprenticeships exist in business administration, customer service, finance and accounting, HR, digital and IT support, catering, and estates and maintenance. They are advertised the same way as clinical ones and usually start on a low band. Finish the apprenticeship and a vacancy may lead to a permanent post, but no trust can promise one, so ask at interview what has happened to previous apprentices.

What you are paid

Every apprentice must be paid at least the apprentice rate of the National Minimum Wage, which is £8.00 an hour for apprentices under 19 and for those aged 19 or over in the first year of their apprenticeship. After the first year, a 19 or 20 year old moves to the rate for their age (£10.85 an hour for 18 to 20) and anyone aged 21 or over is entitled to the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour.

Many NHS employers pay more than the legal minimum, and some place apprentices on an Agenda for Change band from the start. The advert will say. Check the salary line and whether the pay is shown as an apprentice rate or as a band, then compare it with the band 2 and band 3 figures. A job paying the apprentice minimum is legal, but it will be a lot lower than the same job advertised as a standard band 2 post.

Apprentices pay income tax and National Insurance on the same rules as other employees once earnings pass the thresholds. The take-home pay calculator shows what is left after deductions.

How the training works

Apprenticeship standards include off-the-job learning: paid time in your working week for study, classroom days, or placements in other departments. You also build a portfolio of evidence and sit an end-point assessment at the end. Degree apprenticeships add university study, and nursing ones include placements across different settings so that you meet the practice hours needed for registration.

You do not pay tuition fees. The employer funds the training, normally through the Apprenticeship Levy or government co-funding. If anyone asks you to pay for the course, check the details before you accept.

Where to find vacancies

Search NHS Jobs for “apprentice” and filter by pay band or contract type. The NHS Jobs website guide covers the account and application form. Some trusts also post on their own sites or through the government’s Find an apprenticeship service, and Health Careers has a section on apprenticeship routes by role.

The application is the same supporting statement as for any other NHS post, scored against the person specification. How to write an NHS supporting statement is the place to start. The interview is often values-based, so read NHS values-based interviews before the day. Patient-facing posts need an enhanced DBS check and a right to work check before you start.

For apprenticeships across all employers, see apprenticeships in the public sector.