Primary Care Apprenticeships

Resources: 

• IfATE Occupational Maps – Useful for exploring apprenticeships by occupational route
• Primary Care Nursing Apprenticeship Factsheet
• Community Nursing Apprenticeship Factsheet
• Training Nursing Associate – Primary Care checklist
• Gov.uk – Getting help with the apprenticeship service
• ESFA – How to register & use the apprenticeship service as an employer
• How to fund the salary of apprentices
• How to set up a digital service account & reserve apprenticeship funding

Apprenticeships are a productive and effective way to grow talent and develop a motivated, skilled, and qualified workforce. Apprenticeships allow you to diversify and freshen up your workforce. Access gov.uk’s Becoming an apprentice page for an overview.

According to the ESFA, “86% of employers said apprenticeships developed skills relevant to their organisation” and “78% reported it improved productivity”.

There are 90 apprenticeships suitable for use in the health and care sectors to choose from. You can explore them on HASO’s standards page.

Follow these steps to get started:

Step 1 – What is your workforce development need? Identify the skills gaps of your workforce and vacancies. Estimate how much salary funding you have to spend on apprenticeship roles. The costing calculator and pathway planning tools may help.

Step 2 – Access funding either via the Levy (if you have a wage bill over £3million), reserve government co-investment or find a levy transfer.

Step 3 – Select an apprenticeship standard and choose apprenticeship training and assessments. Find a training provider who will offer the right apprenticeship and assess your apprentice during their training.

Step 4 – Advertise a vacancy: you can work with your training provider to help with advertising and shortlisting. You may identify an existing employee or recruit a new apprentice.

Step 5 – Provide ongoing support for the apprentice. Help them to adjust to the workplace by planning workload and providing the necessary opportunities to complete practical tasks in line with training goals.

Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, primary care networks (PCNs) can claim reimbursement for the salaries (and some on costs) of 17 new roles within the multidisciplinary team, selected to meet the needs of the local population. This includes reimbursing training time for nursing associates to become registered nurses.

Please see flow chart below for an illustration of how ARRS funding can support an individual to go from a trainee nursing associate (TNA) to a registered nurse (RN).

Apprenticeship training is a great way to develop new or existing members of staff. An apprentice is an employee who receives funded vocational training directly relevant to their role. How and when this training is delivered is flexible. The tri-partite nature of an apprenticeship, with its close working relationship between the employer, training provider and apprentice, promotes development that benefits the practice, the staff team and individual. Many roles are available, including Assistant Practice Manager, Healthcare Support Worker and many others. Access the which apprenticeships support the Primary Care workforce document for further details.

Employers must pay the apprentice’s salary but in the case of the nursing associate and trainee nursing associate, funding for the salary can be drawn down via the local Primary Care Network through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). Further details about the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) can be accessed here. (These are currently the only roles that attract ARRS funding when pursued via an apprenticeship route).

Please also note the following points: 

• Both trainee nursing associates and registered nursing associate roles are already reimbursable via ARRS (from October 2020).
• From October 2022 PCNs (Primary Care Networks) are now also able to claim reimbursement for nursing associates training to become a registered nurse. This is where nursing associates can undertake a ‘top up’ programme, utilising Recognised Prior Learning (RPL), to train to become a registered nurse while continuing to deliver their nursing associate role within the PCN.
• The reimbursable amount is equivalent to a band 4 salary.
• This has been added into the Network contract DES from October 2022 (see B11.4 and B11.5 for full details)
• Following completion of their Nurse Training learners may need to undertake additional training (for example a GPN course that includes content such as a long-term conditions, sexual health, minor illness, and independent / supplementary nurse prescribing). This is not currently covered in the Network contract DES.

There are a variety of apprenticeships being used across wider primary care settings including in pharmacies.  Have a look at our Pharmacy Apprenticeship Standards printable , it gives an overview of the apprenticeship standards available in this area.

Learn more about the Level 3 Pharmacy Technician (Integrated) apprenticeship standard which has been approved for delivery since 3^rd July 2019.  A qualified pharmacy technician can be employed as part of the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS).

Read about Lucy Preene a Pharmacy Technician apprentice. You can also learn more about the Pharmacy Technician role on the Health Careers website. 

Use our apprenticeship planning / costing tools to calculate the estimated cost to the organisation of having an apprentice.

Our Pathways tool allows you to see more about how apprentices may progress from one occupation to another.

For further information check out our pharmacy page.

There are three ways to access funding to pay for apprenticeship training, this funding does not cover salary costs – you will have to fund the apprentice’s salary.

1. Apprenticeship Levy Employers with a pay bill over £3 million each year pay the apprenticeship levy. Levy paying employers can spend their apprenticeship levy funding on apprenticeship training.
2. Reserve government co-investment If you don’t pay the apprenticeship levy you can reserve funding, where the government pays 95% of the training costs and the employer pays the remaining 5%.
3. Levy Transfers Levy paying employers can transfer some of their annual levy to other employers. These transfers cover 100% of the training costs of the apprenticeship (you still need to cover salary)

Read more about funding and the Levy here. 

Primary and Community Care Training Hubs have information about primary care workforce, education and development. These training hubs work to address local needs. It’s always worth taking the time to find out what’s on offer, whether you’re an individual, employer or part of the Primary Care Network (PCN).

The training hubs bring together education and training resources from NHS organisations, community providers as well as local authorities. There’s not always an actual door you can knock on to ask for help but what they all have is access to a range of information, resources, apps and contacts within national and local networks who can offer practical guidance, support and advice.

You can access the Primary and Community Care Training Hubs here.

We have a wide range of case studies available to read, download and share. Click the button below and search for specific individuals, employers or apprenticeship standards.

• Holly-Marie Nicholson, The Wilson Practice: Level 6 Registered Nurse Degree (NMC 2018) Apprenticeship
• Laura Dickinson, Roman Road Health Centre – Level 5 Nursing Associate (NMC 2018) apprenticeship standard.
• Read more of our Primary Care apprenticeship case studies
• Lancashire & South Cumbria Training Hub – Apprenticeships in Primary Care Case Study

Achieving functional skills qualifications in English and Maths is a key outcome of all apprenticeships. Often, someone who does not have the appropriate English and Maths qualifications will need to complete them before they start their apprenticeship, particularly if the apprenticeship is at degree level.  At other levels, many training providers also allow apprentices to undertake functional skills as they study towards their apprenticeship. If an apprentice is not able to evidence that they have English and maths (eg due to lost of missing certificates), they will need to complete functional skills again as part of their apprenticeship.

To support employers and apprentices Health Education England offer funded functional skills learning and access to exams, you can use these tools to make sure your potential apprentices achieves their English and Maths qualifications and you might also want to use these tools to support all your staff to refresh their English and Maths skills.

You can visit our Skills for Life section to find out further information.