Apprenticeships
The facts about apprenticeships
If you choose to recruit a Modern Apprentice, they will be your employee.
You will be required to pay them a wage appropriate to the industry and level at which they are working. You will also need to allocate them time to learn and practice. In most cases they will attend college – either day or block release.
You can use Modern Apprenticeships to train both new and existing employees.
If the candidate meets the eligibility requirements, then funding for the training will be released by Skills Development Scotland. The funding is based on making progress through their apprenticeship and is usually paid in line with a Quarterly Review Period or will be based on the apprentice completing units of their qualification. The largest part of funding (up to 50%) will be released only when the apprentice has completed all parts of the apprenticeship. We will work with you to support the apprentice hopefully through to successful completion of their apprenticeship programme.
In addition, we arrange an induction onto the programme for each apprentice and their employer, followed by regular review/monitoring visits in the workplace by one of our Apprenticeship Coordinators. On each visit our Coordinator will meet with the trainee and their supervisor to discuss progress.
Why take on an Apprentice?
Why take on an Apprentice?
Apprentices are young people, with fresh ideas and a new way of looking at things. This is your chance to shape their future in tandem with reaching your business goals. Over the long-term, it can be very effective to ‘grow your own’ talent. The apprentice programme will provide opportunities to implement skills learned at college in the workplace while also developing essential transferable skills such as meta-skills.
At the end of the apprenticeship, you will hopefully have a trained member of staff who can take on more responsibilities and fill areas where there may be skills shortages.
Financial assistance
Financial assistance
Skills Development Scotland provides funding contributions towards the cost of the training. In some cases, particularly for those apprentices aged 16-19, the funding received may cover the cost of the training. Where this is not the case, we will ask you to meet the cost where the funding is inadequate. A financial agreement will be drawn up at the start of the programme so you will be aware of what the costs will be.
Funding is received on the basis of the candidates achieving “milestones” evidenced through progress at the Quarterly Progress Reviews or by achieving units of their qualification. The final outcome payment can only be claimed when all elements of the apprenticeship are completed.
We will agree with you a realistic end date for the training at the start of the programme. It is important that we work collaboratively: employer, training provider and apprentice to ensure that the apprentice finishes their training on time. Further costs may be incurred if this is not the case.
Where your apprentice has to travel south for training, you will be required to book the travel and accommodation. Some of these costs can be recompensed through SDS on the production of receipts. All receipts must be received within 90 days of travel as per the SDS Specification document.
I'd like to take on an Apprentice
I'd like to take on an Apprentice
If you are interested in taking on a Modern Apprentice, please do get in touch. We list a selection of Apprenticeships on this website. If you have a bespoke request for a particular apprenticeship, we may investigate the request but will need to review whether the request is viable and economically sustainable or we may signpost you to another provider who may be able to assist you.
After our initial meeting to identify your specific needs, we will research the programme delivery options and also support our recruitment process to find a suitable new apprentice.