NHS England are looking for NHS employers interested in supporting a research programme looking to solve the challenges we face in recruiting/ retaining apprentices across the NHS.
Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) is the national What Works Centre for youth employment. Their aim is an equitable future society where all young people have the opportunity to be in good work. They are an independently funded charity, and use their funding to generate and share the highest quality evidence of what works to achieve their aim. In 2024, they launched a multi-year, multi-million pound programme of evidence generation with employers to test out which recruitment and employment practices can support marginalised groups of young people (including ethnic minorities, care leavers, those with SEND, and those experienced with the criminal justice system) to move into and sustain in good work. They are launching multiple partnerships this year, including with FTSE 100 companies and other major public sector partners, seeking to identify answers to the problems employers face in recruiting/ retaining their priority groups.
NHS England are looking to support YFF to identify partner Trusts to work with to test potential solutions to some of the questions/ challenges we have around apprenticeship recruitment/ retention. Things we could look at together include:
- Increasing the use of apprenticeships as the default role type, dropping years of experience requirements, and changing our approach to functional skills requirements to see if this affects the groups we have applying for roles
- Streamlining the stages of our recruitment practices to reduce the time to hire to see if this makes our processes more efficient whilst ensuring we source the talent we need
- Exploring whether assessment days are an effective selection method, or whether they put certain groups off from applying
- Testing out community-based recruitment approaches, including the use of social media
- Assessing whether requiring interview panel diversity improves recruitment inclusivity or puts too much of a burden on current staff from diverse groups
NHS England will support employers engaging in this activity, as there are clear benefits to both the employers that participate but also the NHS as a whole. YFF will be offering their “critical friend”, consultancy-type services for free – YFF have their own funding source and are looking to use this solely in the pursuit of their charitable mission. Through the research that YFF conducts with each Trust that chooses to participate, the findings produced will be shared with other Trusts throughout the NHS, providing NHS England with incredibly powerful evidence to use in the recruitment overhaul.
If the opportunity might be of interest, please email england.nhsapprenticeships@nhs.net . The plan is to then gather representatives from interested employers together for an information session with YFF. They have pencilled in two dates : 31st March 11am – 12.30pm and 4th April 1.30pm – 3pm where they will be able to explain the opportunity in more detail.