Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship – Resources

23 September, 2020

Health Education England (HEE) have announced a funding package to support the growth of Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeships (RNDA) in the NHS.

The funding offer – summary

A ‘Training Grant’ of £8,300 is payable to the employer of each apprentice per year. This grant is available across all four fields of nursing practice (adult, child, mental health and learning disability). This is available for new starts, and those already on programme going into years 2, 3 and 4 of the apprenticeship. The funding can be used to support off-the-job supernumerary elements of the apprenticeship, to support employers with implementing this programme or increasing their current offer.

You can read the announcement in full here.

Following feedback from employers about what will help them take part in this initiative, please find here resources to help you develop your plans for RNDA – and watch this space for more information and news on the project!

  1. Employer engagement events – around 800 employers have attended HEE’s national briefings launching this project and many more local updates as well. The engagement events slides set out the main elements of the initiative and summarises the financial support package and all the important dates. Use these slides as a basis for your own organisational and local briefings and planning sessions.
  2.  EOI forms (RNDA & Top up RNDA for NA and APs) – EOIs are starting to come in! Please engage with your regional HEE Nursing Leads and HEE Apprenticeship Relationship Managers to begin scoping potential demand for September 2020 starts onwards. If employers would like to apply for the funding offer, and have not yet done so, please complete and return the Expression of Interest form to nursingapprenticeproject@hee.nhs.uk as soon as possible. The first collection of expressions of interest will be on 5th October.
  3. Procurement guide – follow up from last week’s announcement for a new National Framework for Nursing Associate, Nursing, and Midwifery apprenticeship provision, the announcement can be found here.
  4. The RNDA Return on Investment (ROI) tool – to help develop your business case or investment options plan. This has been designed specifically in response to employers asking for more help in calculating the cost of training Registered Nurse Degree Apprentices by exploring different delivery models and pay bands to be able to forecast your return on investment by reducing your nursing vacancy figures by “growing your own” registered nurse apprentices. Once you have done your calculation you can download, copy and paste the results into your business case.
  5. An example Registered Nurse Apprentice job description (Band 3) acute trust – use this to develop your own organisational Job Description – and please share your own examples with us too!
  6. An example organisational investment proposal or business case for RNDAs – one of the things employers regularly ask HEE for is help with or example ‘business cases’. Use this template to start your own investment proposal or business case for Registered Nurse Degree Apprentices.  If you have examples of business cases or options appraisals and would like to share – do let us know!
  7. Case studies showcasing how Trusts are already using the RNDA programme – Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS FT & Royal Devon and Exeter NHS FT

If you have any queries or questions, please contact the HEE team on nursingapprenticeproject@hee.nhs.uk

Or email your local Relationship Manager for Apprenticeships;