Employer Brochure

DERBY COLLEGE

APPRENTICESHIPS

GUIDE FOR EMPLOYERS

Employers say that qualified apprentices are 15% more employable than those with other qualifications

DfE Apprenticeship Core Brief, November 2016

Apprenticeships: an investment in the future

Apprentices can deliver real, measurable benefits – filling your skills gaps while boosting your organisation’s efficiency and competiveness.

They are a cost-effective way to invest in your future managers, increase business growth and attract new talent. Apprentices are widely regarded as eager, reliable and loyal – and you can train them to suit your own workplace procedures and systems.

Beneﬁts for your business

With apprenticeships you can:

Support from Derby College

As your apprenticeship training partner, we will:

Improve your organisation’s productivity and performance through better trained staff
Help you match the right candidate to the right job Assist in developing an individual learning plan for your

apprentice

Solve your staff recruitment and retention problems in

an affordable way
Arrange assessment of your apprentice’s competence

in the workplace

Recruit to your own job speciﬁcations

Shape and mould a person to your own business requirements
Monitor your apprentice’s progress, providing support where necessary

Beneﬁt from ﬂexible training which dovetails with your

working schedules and business needs
Offer regular and comprehensive feedback Provide you with a named College contact

Why work with Derby College?

A tradition of excellence

Industry-standard facilities

One of the largest colleges in the country, we are committed to helping employers invest in a more professional, skilled and sustainable workforce for the future. We pride ourselves on delivering effective skills solutions for employers – and apprenticeships form an important part of that work.
If your apprentice’s training programme involves attending Derby College, they will discover state-of-the-art specialist facilities in which to hone their skills. Our resources are industry standard and our staff have relevant professional

experience. We will help ensure your apprentice keeps up

to date with latest techniques, trends and technologies.

We have a wealth of expertise in helping to recruit and train

apprentices for vital roles across diverse industry sectors. In 2015-16 alone, we supported around 2,200 apprentices – and their employers – to achieve their goals.

Support for a wide range of sectors

Derby College supports apprenticeships in the following sectors:
Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care

Business, Administration and Law Construction, Planning and the Built Environment Education and Training

High-quality programmes

We’ve been ranked ‘good’ by Ofsted, with ‘outstanding’ features which include our strong employer partnerships. Our latest inspection in March 2016 concluded that our apprenticeships were well planned to meet the needs of employers in the region.
Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Health, Public Services and Care
Inspectors praised the way we help apprentices progress

to sustained employment, promotion and higher levels of responsibility in the workplace. They said: “Apprentices develop good vocational skills which improve their employability and which contribute to the success of their employers’ businesses.”
Information and Communication Technology Leisure, Travel and Tourism Retail and Commercial Enterprise

Derby College is one of the best further education colleges in the country for plastering and we are delighted to be working with the tutors to provide apprenticeships like Brad’s. Major companies in our industry also tell us how highly they rate the training at Derby College, which is great to know.

Steve Coward, Finishes Manager at The Horbury Group. Horbury has recruited Brad Peters as a plastering apprentice and now plans to add more trade apprentices to its team via Derby College. The company offers apprentices the chance to progress in the business once

qualiﬁed, including into professional roles such

as contracts manager and quantity surveyor.

Apprenticeships boost productivity to businesses by an average of £214 per week

Being able to train apprentices in what we need works well for our business – and it’s good for the apprentices too as there aren’t many people like us offering hands-on jobs in animal care.

Tim Doyle, co-owner of Poochie Play Centre. When the dog day care and hydrotherapy centre was looking for premises, it deliberately sought to be within easy reach of the Animal

Care courses at Derby College’s Broomﬁeld Hall campus.

The partnership has opened doors to apprenticeships in hydrotherapy, dog grooming and management.

95% of our apprentices said they were satisfied with the quality of the course they undertook

Source – 19+ Apprenticeships

Where to start

Take action to consider applicants from underrepresented groups

Recruiting and selecting

The recruitment and selection process should help you ﬁnd

apprentices who are best suited to the work and training you can offer. We will provide all the help and advice you need during the recruitment process. But remember: as

the employer, the ﬁnal decision regarding selection will be

yours.
Give applicants accurate information about the work

which they are expected to undertake

Treat all candidates fairly and consistently during the selection process

Advise us of any existing employees whom you wish to

The government offers an unbiased service accessible to all potential apprentices and employers alike. It includes an online Apprenticeship Vacancy service where employers can advertise their vacancies and where young people can search and apply for opportunities. train as apprentices

Your commitment

At the time of this guide going to print, employers are required to offer a contract of employment for a minimum of 12 months or the length of the apprenticeship, whichever is greater.

Derby College’s role

We can:
We recommend that you pay the wage suggested by the

government for the apprentice’s speciﬁc age range.

Help advertise your vacancy on the national website Advise you on selection methods and assist with interviews if required

Carry out an initial assessment of prospective apprentices to determine their current literacy and numeracy skills

Growing the business through the apprenticeship route will regenerate our workforce, bring some fresh blood into the business and address future skills shortages.

Len Palmer, Operations Director at Lander
Automotive, which has teamed up with Derby College and Sigma Group on a workforce solution creating
180 new apprenticeship jobs.

Your role as the employer

You should:
Advise us about the types of positions you are seeking

to ﬁll and the characteristics which potential

apprentices require Interview a number of applicants and keep us informed about the outcomes

How we can help

Attend apprenticeship progress reviews

A partnership that works

Derby College will:
Advise us on workplace training and assessment opportunities that may occur in the period leading up to

the next review

Keep in regular touch with the apprentices and your organisation

Be alert to any problems or difﬁculties which may be

facing apprentices and share your concerns with us
Encourage and motivate apprentices during their training programme

Help apprentices to ﬁnd suitable alternatives if they

decide that they are on the wrong training programme or doing the wrong job

Help apprentices to understand the long-term beneﬁts of training and qualiﬁcations

You and your organisation should:
Help apprentices develop their knowledge and skills by providing a wide range of learning and training opportunities

Promoting progression

An apprentice’s progression is crucial for both the individual and their organisation.
Give apprentices time at work to develop their portfolios
Under Skills Funding Agency guidelines, we must review

each apprentice to check that they are getting the most out of their training programme. It is therefore important to monitor their progress at regular intervals to ensure

any support needs are identiﬁed. This process will be

undertaken in the workplace to ensure minimum disruptions to your normal working activities.
Encourage apprentices to attend and show real interest in their off-the-job training

Help apprentices put into practice what they have learnt during off-the-job training sessions

Let us know how the apprentice is progressing in the workplace

Apprenticeships and their equivalent educational levels

NAME

LEVEL

EQUIVALENT EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

Five GCSE passes at grades A* to C (9-4) Two A-level passes

Intermediate Advanced Higher

234, 5, 6 and 7 6 and 7
Foundation Degree and above Bachelors or Masters Degree

Degree

Taking on apprentices has been a good business move. We have a good working relationship with Derby College and have been able to adapt the techniques taught on their barbering course to suit the needs of our shops.

Casey Foster Miles, a manager at Deakin &

White male grooming. The ﬁrm took on barbering

apprentice Brad Knight at its new barber shop in Ilkeston, and said his presence helped to bring a younger clientele through the door. It has since committed to recruiting further apprentices.

99% of our apprenticeship employers were satisfied with the service they had received

Source 16 - 18 Apprenticeships

The idea of taking on apprentices is to bring a long-term, skilled workforce to the company, training people who will hopefully want to stay with us until they retire.

Adrian Baker, Director of Baker Engineering which

employed its ﬁrst apprentice, Pavitar Gill, through a

partnership with Derby College. Pavitar embarked on an Engineering course at the College while being trained on manual and CNC machines as part of his apprenticeship.

100% of employers said that they would recommend Derby College to other employers

Source - Employer Survey

The Apprenticeship Levy

With the new levy coming into effect in April 2017, this is what you and your organisation need to know:

Understanding the levy

The new Apprenticeship Levy requires all employers operating in the UK which have an annual payroll bill in

excess of £3 million to make an investment by training

apprentices.

Your wage bill needs to be in excess of £3 million to

trigger payment. The levy rate is 0.5%. Payment is based on your employee earnings (gross) and will be calculated from

the same ﬁgure used for Class 1 NICs (bonus payments

included).
This will bring our country into line with other modern economies, where the co-funding of apprenticeships by the interested parties – the employer and the government – is

already the standard model.

For the under 25 age group, you will no longer have to

pay NICs.
The Apprenticeship Levy will directly fund apprenticeship

training programmes, with the aim of increasing the number of people in apprenticeships to 3 million by 2020. It means

employers can take control of – and beneﬁt from – a further £3 billion that will be added to the apprenticeship pot over the course of the next ﬁve years.

Calculating what you have to pay

You will pay the levy on your entire pay bill at a rate of 0.5%. However, you will have a levy allowance to offset

against this. The levy allowance is worth £15,000 for each tax year. This means the levy is only payable on pay bills over £3 million (because 0.5% x £3 million = £15,000).

LEVY PAYMENT EXAMPLE Number of employees

LEVY PAYING EMPLOYER

NON-LEVY PAYING EMPLOYER

250

100

Average gross salary per employee

£20,000

Pay bill (number of employees’ x average

250 x £20,000 = £5,000,000

100 x £20,000 = £2,000,000

gross salary per employee)

Levy sum (0.5% x pay bill)

Less levy allowance of £15,000 Levy payment by employer

£25,000

-£15,000 £10,000

£0

N/A £0

The Apprenticeship Levy

Maximising your returns

Support from Derby College

The opportunity to reclaim your levy costs is not to be missed. As long as you are delivering recognised apprenticeship training, you can take advantage of the offer. It comes with the promise that you could get more out than you put in.

We will support employers to maximise their return on

investment. Our dedicated Business Consultants can

provide you and your organisation with the expertise to

guide you effortlessly through the new system. We offer:
The Apprenticeship Service will ensure that the funding process is not open to abuse, so you can be sure that

the money you pay as a result of the levy will beneﬁt

organisations committed to apprenticeships.
Advice and guidance on the levy Training needs analysis Workforce planning and support Recruitment service for new apprentices

Upskilling and reskilling of existing staff

Useful links

For more information on how the levy works:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/ apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work

We are incredibly impressed with our apprentices. They have developed immensely and are making a valuable contribution to our business. Derby
College offers the ﬂexibility and

For more information from Derby College:

www.derby-college.ac.uk/employers/apprenticeship-levy or www.levy-apprenticeship.co.uk

high quality service to meet our requirements and a modern learning environment which greatly enhances the apprenticeship programme.

Annabelle Barwick, Project Manager at Derby Homes

Digital marketing is a new role for our business and Max’s enthusiasm and skills are the ideal ﬁt for us. I am committed to growing the business through apprenticeship programmes which are the ideal way of recruiting new people who we can train in our core beliefs and ethos.

David Torrington, Managing Director of Sky

Recruitment Solutions. The Derby recruitment

consultancy has appointed Max Pitt as a digital marketing apprentice. Max is responsible for raising the proﬁle of the company through

digital media platforms, with the ultimate aim of progressing into a sales and business development role there.

93% of employers agreed that they would be keeping their apprentice in employment on COMPLETION

Source - Employer Survey

I really like to bring apprentices through at the beginning of their careers and help mould the way they work into what Alter Rock needs. In later life, I hope they’ll look back and think they gained some good vales here.

Garry Jackson, Founder of Alter Rock indoor climbing gym and activity centre. His apprentices undertake a wide range of customer service roles – from meeting and greeting to overseeing climbing groups.

Apprenticeships are available in 1,500 job roles, covering more than 170 industries

There were more than 250,000 employer workplaces with an apprentice in 2014/15

Telephone: 01332 387421 Email: [email protected]

Web: www.derby-college.ac.uk/apprenticeships www.facebook.com/ApprenticeshipsDerby DC_Apprentice