Apprenticeships | Askham Bryan College

Apprenticeships

Earn while you learn and gain real work experience.

Find out more

Book an open event Register your interest now

Find your apprenticeship

  • Agriculture

    With over 150,000 businesses, the agriculture industry offers exciting and varied careers in the UK and abroad. The industry provides the opportunity to work in a technically advanced and innovative environment, with businesses ranging from small family farms through to large integrated organisations working across the food supply chain.

    Agriculture student driving tractor
  • Arboriculture and Forestry

    The arboricultural industry manages trees for their benefits and values in diverse urban and rural locations from city parks and urban woodlands, to country estates and private gardens. The industry manages trees adjacent to highways, railways, watercourses and power lines. The organisations involved in this type of work vary from local authorities and large national contractors to small specialist businesses.

    Student cutting down a tree with a chainsaw
  • Engineering

    Those working in the Land-Based Engineering sectors work with the most technically advanced products including; GPS and telemetry, drones, robotics, autonomous vehicles and alternative fuel sources. The technology employed in the Land-based Engineering sectors meets or exceeds applications found in many other sectors.

    Two students smiling stood next to a tractor
  • Equine

    The Equine industry contributes over £8bn to the British economy each year. Horse industries are steeped in tradition, yet embrace innovation and technology. There are about a million horses (including all domestic equine species, namely horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids) kept for recreation and commercial use in the UK.

    Horse
  • Horticulture

    Working and learning in the horticulture and landscape industries is rewarding, offers a diverse range of employment opportunities and includes a range of skills that are transferrable into many other industries.

    Student working in the greenhouse
  • Land and Wildlife

    Game keeping is a traditional profession created to protect game species for Royal hunting forests. Today's gamekeepers play a critical role in species and habitat conservation as they look after the woods, hedgerows and fields in which the game birds and animals live. The result of this work is that many other species of wild birds and animals benefit from the maintained habitats, ensuring a balanced environment with plentiful wildlife.

    Two students with fishing net by a river
  • Veterinary Nursing

    With high-quality teaching and learning facilities, our centres provide students with the essential theoretical expertise and an appreciation of the practical skills necessary to undertake the role within the profession. All key members of the delivery team are Registered Veterinary Nurses or Veterinary Surgeons, with experience of the industry. The College runs veterinary nursing and animal nursing assistant courses at our York and Gateshead locations.

What is an Apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships are work based learning programmes, that require the learner to be employed in a suitable job role. Prior to beginning an apprentice, you must be employed in a full-time position, which aligns with the content of your preferred course of study. Apprenticeships work on a triparty agreement between the college, learner and employer and can only successfully be delivered in close collaboration. On receipt of your application via the website and by registering your interest for an apprenticeship the College will schedule an interview with you and your employer, to discuss the next steps, however, should you have any questions please email: apprenticeships@askham-bryan.ac.uk

How do they work?

All apprenticeships are run from our York site.

You will gain valuable qualifications including:

  • A Work-Based programme at Level 2 (Intermediate Apprentices), Level 3 (Advanced Apprentices) or Level 4 and 5 (Higher Apprentices)
  • Functional skills qualifications
  • Additional nationally recognised certificates for the sector in which you work (charges may apply)

What are my options as a learner?

All apprenticeships include elements of practical learning with your employer and in-classroom training enabling industry-recognised standards, or qualifications. All apprenticeships require an external assessment at the end of your programme which evaluates the apprentice’s ability and competence in their job role. The length of the programme is varied depending on the course chosen. Your course manager will support the development of your knowledge, skills and behaviours throughout your course in order to achieve you career goal. As an apprentice, there will be no cost to you. You will need to have already achieved a GCSE grade 2 or above, before enrolling to an apprenticeship. Please see below for the current apprenticeships on offer at Askham Bryan College.

Level 2

·         General Farm Worker (Level 2)
·         Land-Based Service Engineer – (Construction or Plant) (Level 2)
·         Arborist (Level 2)
·         Equine Groom (Level 2)
·         Golf Greenkeeper (Level 2)
·         Sports Turf Operative (Level 2)
·         Horticulture or Landscape Operative (Level 2)

Level 3

·         Livestock Unit Technician (Level 3)
·         Land-Based Service Engineer Technician – (Construction or Plant) (Level 3)
·         Crop Technician (Level 3)
·         Forest Craftperson (Level 3)
·         Senior Equine Groom (Level 3)
·         Advanced Golf Greenkeeper (Level 3)
·         Landscape or Horticulture Supervisor (Level 3)
·         Veterinary Nurse – York and Gateshead (Level 3)

Leve 4

Currently in development and more details will be available in due course

How to access an apprenticeship programme

Apprenticeships are available to anyone over the age of 16 who are living on England. There is no cost to the learner. All apprenticeships are funded through the European Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), which is organised and arranged by the college on the learner’s behalf. The National Apprenticeship Service is committed to ensuring that high-quality apprenticeships are prestigious option, accessible to everyone!

All vacancies are on the government website and will clearly state what the entry requirements are for the job role being advertised. There will be different entry requirements depending on the industry job role and apprenticeship level.

Search for an apprenticeship here.

What can be earned?

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) for apprentices is £6.40 per hour as from April 2024. The apprentice NMW applies to apprentices aged under 19 or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. Apprentices aged 23 and over and not in the first year of their apprenticeship will be entitled to the full NMW.

How many hours a week should I be working?

The minimum duration of each apprenticeship is based on the apprentice working 30 hours a week or more, including any off-the-job training you undertake. However, this does not apply in every circumstance. For example, people with caring responsibilities or people with a disability may work reduced weekly hours. Where this is the case, the duration of the apprenticeship will be extended to take account of this. The time spent on off-the-job training should be at least 20% and should be included as part of your hours. Your employer must allow you time to complete your apprenticeship within your working hours. If you need support with English and Maths, this should also be within working hours, but this will be organised and discussed upon interview by the course manager and this will be explained to your employer, prior to sign up. Apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted to work more than 40 hours per week.

The Apprenticeship Levy

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of the employers levy and the way that apprenticeships are funded. Previously, all the funding allocations has been placed with the training provider and it has been their role to ensure that the correct funding has been drawn down for each candidate. With the reforms, the employer is very much at the centre of the changes and this includes placing the funding directly with the employer.

Not only do employers now have the option to choose who they wish to deliver the training for them, but they are also responsible for ensuring that the correct funding is accessed and transferred to the training provider.

The Levy will affect all employers and will depend on the size of the organisation as to which levy model they use.

a) Employers with a pay bill over £3 million per annum

If an employer has  a payroll bill in excess of £3million per annum. The Levy rate will be 0.5% of the employer pay bill and will be collected through Pay As You Earn (PAYE). The government will pay a 10% top-up for your apprenticeship training funds each month, meaning that for every £1 that enters your account for spending on apprenticeship training, you’ll get £1.10.

b) Employers with a pay bill less than £3 million per annum

There will also be changes to funding for apprenticeship training for employers whose payroll bill is less than £3m a year – the majority of UK business. When the new funding system starts, you can you can continue to train apprentices and choose the appropriate standard Approved Training Provider.

You will agree a price for the apprenticeship with the training provider and will be able to spread it over the lifetime of the apprenticeship. Employers will be asked to make a contribution to the cost of this training and the government will pay the rest, up to the maximum amount of government funding available for that apprenticeship. As both you and the government make a payment, we call this ‘co-investment’.

The government has confirmed it will pay 90% towards the cost of training and assessment, and employers will pay the remaining 10%.

Every individual apprenticeship standard will be allocated to a funding band. The upper limit of the funding band will cap the maximum price that government will ‘co-invest’ towards. The new apprenticeship funding system will have 15 funding bands, with the upper limit of these bands ranging from £1,500 to £27,000. All existing and new apprenticeship standards will be placed within one of these funding bands.

Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS)

A new Digital Apprenticeship Service is being created which will allow employers to open online accounts so that they can directly access apprenticeship funding. This digital system will allow employers to:

  • search for relevant standards to match their job roles
  • search for providers who deliver
  • reserve funding
  • advertise their vacancy
  • receive applications from people interested in the role
  • claim the money to pay/support the delivery of the apprenticeship programme.

Useful Links for Employers

1. Digital Apprenticeship Service

The government is introducing and Employers Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) to help employers manage their levy payments. To help you understand these changes, we recommend watching the Government Digital Service YouTube video on managing apprenticeships on the government website.

2.  Set up your Digital Service Account

Visit the government website to learn how to set up your Apprenticeship Service account and to access the relevant government web pages.

3. Your  Levy Credit

To help calculate your levy credit and identify the correct levy model for you and your organisation visit www.fas.report

Estimate your apprenticeship funding spend through the Skills Funding Agency.

4.HMRC

The latest guidance on Apprenticeships reforms from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is now available. Click to access the guidance on the HMRC website.

For More Information…

To help you understand the changes to apprenticeships and how they will affect you and your organisation, please come along to one of our apprenticeship events being organised throughout the year or contact a member of the apprenticeship team:

Email: Apprenticeships@askham-bryan.ac.uk

Course search results

Advanced Golf Greenkeeper Apprenticeship Level 3

The apprenticeship is designed to provide the greenkeeper with the skills and knowledge to operate at an advanced level where supervisory and/or specialist technical and agronomic skills are required.

Veterinary Nursing Apprenticeship Level 3

Askham Bryan College is an approved centre for vocational training for veterinary nursing.

Landscape/Horticulture Supervisor Apprenticeship Level 3

Landscape or horticulture supervisors can be employed to oversee work in public parks and gardens, green spaces and historic gardens, private gardens and estates or in production nurseries and retail outlets.

Golf Greenkeeper Apprenticeship Level 2

A Golf Greenkeeper is responsible for the maintenance, care and overall appearance of a golf course in line with employer’s requirements.

Equine Groom Standard Apprenticeship Level 2

Apprentices will be entering a vocational industry, where they can expect to handle a variety of horses in different working environments.

General Farm Worker Apprenticeship Level 2

A General Farm Worker will work alongside a supervisor, supporting daily operations for the farm enterprises including being responsible for carrying out routine work such as assisting with animal and plant health and nutrition, maintaining health and safety and biosecurity.

Sports Turf Operative Apprenticeship Level 2

A Sports Turf Operative, which is also known as a Groundsperson or Grounds Maintenance Operative, is involved in maintaining and renovating sports surfaces to make sure that public and private sports facilities are available for use.

Senior Equine Groom Standard Apprenticeship Level 3

Senior Equine Groom will be capable of looking after a small to medium sized equine yard and supervising a diverse team of workers.

Livestock Unit Technician Apprenticeship Level 3

As a Livestock Unit Technician you will usually operationally manage the livestock-related tasks on the farm such as animal health and welfare from conception and birth through to the customer, and to support business productivity.

Level 2 Horticulture Operative | Landscaping Apprenticeship

Horticulture or landscape operatives can be employed to work in public parks and gardens, green spaces and historic gardens, private gardens and estates.

Transport and Accommodation for Current Apprentices

If you are an employer or parent/guardian looking to book accommodation or transport for a current student, please use the link below to access more information

Learn more about booking your transport or accommodation
School bus

Askham Bryan College Video