Apprentice

First check which apprenticeship is being offered

Most apprentices taken on for a job are employees doing paid work alongside an approved programme of training. The employer provides productive work and supports the learning needed to complete the apprenticeship. A training provider normally delivers or coordinates the off-the-job learning.

Scotland also has Foundation Apprenticeships for school or college students. These are work-based learning placements rather than paid employment. The Scottish Government overview distinguishes them from paid Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships. Check the programme before assuming that the word “apprentice” settles employment status or pay.

The GOV.UK employer guide explains the employer's responsibilities and routes businesses to the correct national apprenticeship service.

The nation changes the programme

Apprenticeships are organised differently in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The programme name, funding route, approved framework or standard, required documents and provider relationship can change with the nation where the apprenticeship is delivered.

Use the relevant service from the start: GOV.UK for England, the Scottish Government for Scotland, Business Wales for Wales, or nidirect for Northern Ireland. Do not copy an England-only agreement or funding assumption into another nation.

Put learning into the employment record

For an employed apprenticeship, record the job, wage, normal hours, training hours, programme, provider, planned duration and who will supervise progress. The apprenticeship title is not a reason to reduce ordinary employment standards. Required training time belongs in the paid working arrangement, and the applicable minimum-wage rate should be checked without hard-coding it into reusable documents.

Schedule regular conversations between the apprentice, manager and provider. A useful record shows both sides of the role: the work the employee contributes and the learning the employer has agreed to support.