Nursing degree apprenticeship

A registered nurse degree apprenticeship (RNDA) lets you qualify as a nurse while employed and paid. Your employer pays the university fees, mostly through the apprenticeship levy, so you finish without a tuition fee loan. At the end you have a nursing degree and can join the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register, exactly as you would after a full-time university course.

How it is funded

Employers with a pay bill large enough to pay the apprenticeship levy put 0.5 per cent of it into the levy, after a £15,000 allowance. Every NHS trust pays it. The levy can only be spent on approved apprenticeship training, and nursing is one of the most common uses in the NHS. Smaller employers, such as some GP practices and care providers, can get government co-funding instead.

The levy covers the training and assessment but not your salary, which your employer pays from its normal budget. That is the main reason places are limited: each apprentice is a salary the employer has to find while you spend a large share of your time studying or on placements in other areas.

What you get paid

Apprentices are employees with a contract of employment, holiday, sick pay and pension like other staff. The legal minimum for apprentices is £8.00 an hour if you are under 19 or in the first year of the apprenticeship, and the normal minimum wage for your age after that (£12.71 for workers aged 21 and over).

In practice, NHS employers in England usually pay nursing apprentices on an Agenda for Change band, often the band they held before starting or a band set aside for trainees. Some keep existing staff on their current pay. The rate varies by trust, so look at the salary on the advert and ask how it changes during the course. For reference, the 2026/27 England figures are £25,272 for band 2, £25,760 to £27,476 for band 3 and £28,392 to £31,157 for band 4. On qualifying you move to band 5, which starts at £32,073.

Entry requirements

The university and the employer set requirements together, so they vary. The usual pattern is:

• level 3 qualifications, such as A levels, a BTEC, an Access to HE diploma or a nursing associate foundation degree
• maths and English at GCSE level or an accepted equivalent, often functional skills level 2
• an enhanced DBS check and an occupational health check
• the right to work in the UK and to take part in an apprenticeship in England

Many trusts advertise RNDA places only to their own staff, particularly healthcare assistants and nursing associates. Reliability, good appraisals and some study after school all help. If you are not yet in the NHS, a support worker job first is often the practical way in; see NHS jobs you can get without a degree.

How the course runs

The apprenticeship follows the same NMC standards as a university degree. You attend university sessions on set days or blocks, complete practice placements in different settings, and spend the rest of the time working in your employing team. A minimum share of paid hours has to go on off-the-job learning, and your training plan sets this out.

How long it takes depends on your starting point. People with no previous nursing qualification take longer than a full-time student, because they are also working. Registered nursing associates can usually join a shortened top-up programme that credits their earlier training. The university and employer will confirm the length when they offer you a place.

The workload is heavy. You are learning theory, doing placements across specialities and holding down a job, sometimes with shifts. Employers and universities usually provide a named practice supervisor and an academic assessor, and it is worth using both early if you fall behind.

How to find a place

Places are advertised on NHS Jobs, on Trac for some trusts, and on the government’s Find an apprenticeship service. Search for “nursing degree apprenticeship” or “registered nurse degree apprentice”. Internal adverts usually go out first, so if you already work for a trust, tell your manager and the practice education team that you are interested.

Recruitment normally includes an application form scored against a person specification, a values-based interview and sometimes a maths and literacy test. Our guide to NHS apprenticeships covers the application side, and from healthcare assistant to nurse compares the RNDA with the other routes.

After you qualify

Once you pass, you register with the NMC and move into a band 5 registered nurse post. Many trusts expect you to stay and work for them for a period after qualifying, sometimes as a written condition of the apprenticeship. Check the terms before you start, and ask what happens if you need to pause the course for health or family reasons, because the employer and university both have to agree a break in learning.