Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships in Primary Care

Apprenticeships are a valuable way of learning, developing new skills and gaining new qualifications while working in the role. There is an increasing list of roles within General Practice that can be recruited as an apprenticeship, and some of the more common are Receptionists, Health Care assistants and Nurse Associates. Apprenticeships are not just for school leavers or those new to General Practice; they can also provide valuable development opportunities for your existing teams.

<<NEW>> Find out about our Business Administrator in General Practice Apprenticeship L3 starting September 2023.

Find out about the Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA) L5

Benefits to Practices

• Widening the pool of prospective applicants for your vacancies – attracting candidates who might not previously considered or thought about a career in health or care.
• Cost effective up- skilling and training your workforce in a wide variety of qualifications.
• Addressing skills gaps and helping succession planning.

Training Providers

There are a wide range of Apprenticeship training providers who can support with delivering apprenticeships. The main providers are:

The Training Hub is able to advise you on potential training providers and further details on courses. Please email;

Apprenticeship Standards

Apprenticeships are now primarily delivered in the form of standards. These can be viewed via the Government Apprenticeships website

Apprenticeship Levy

If your practice has an annual pay bill in excess of £3m you will be required to pay the apprenticeship levy. This is money that is automatically taken out of your pay bill and put into a Levy pot which can then be used to pay for training. If you are a non-levy payer, you will only need to pay a contribution of 5% to any apprenticeship course. You can find more information about how this works here.

Levy Transfer

Levy paying employers are able to transfer up to 25% of their apprenticeship levy funds to other employers. Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust and Cornwall Council are both able to transfer their levy to help fund other costs. Levy transfer can also pay for 100% of the apprenticeship fees.

Who can receive transferred funds?

Funds can be transferred to employers for new apprenticeship starts, particularly where the funds will create an apprenticeship that would otherwise not have been possible.  This can include new apprentices or development for existing employees.  Funds are not able to be transferred  for apprenticeships that have already started.

Receiving employers can be:

• In our supply chain, including the supply chain for our Group of Companies
• Providing Council services devolved to them for delivery, e.g. Town and Parish Councils
• Businesses and other organisations that support Cornwall’s growth agenda
• Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector

What are the strategic aims?

To gain maximum benefit from the levy funds, bids will be prioritised using the following criteria:

• Priority 1: Addressing skill shortages in Cornwall. Priority sectors to include Social Care, Digital skills, Engineering and Manufacturing.
• Priority 2: Supporting capacity building in devolved services delivering on behalf of the Council. (E.g. Town Councils delivering Library Services)
• Priority 3: Creating apprenticeship opportunities for disadvantaged groups. (E.g. Care leavers; NEETs; those with disabilities; long term unemployed) Priority to include care leavers
• Priority 4: Creating Higher Level Apprenticeships. Cornwall has a lower proportion of the population with higher level qualifications than elsewhere in the country.  Creating higher level apprenticeships will support our apprenticeship and wider economic and skills strategies.

How does it work?

• In order to identify and select transfer recipients we will conduct an expression of interest exercise/bid process
• Receiving employers or organisations must be able to demonstrate how their apprenticeships will contribute to the Trust’s strategic aims
• Any employer or organisation receiving funds must be registered on the apprenticeship service
• A transfer can only be used to pay for training and assessment for apprenticeship standards
• Transferred funds can be used for the training and assessment of new apprentices and existing employees undertaking apprenticeships.  We cannot transfer funds for apprenticeships that have already started where an agreement with a learning provider is already in place.

There is an application process for this, so for further information please contact us: