Flexible engineering apprenticeships

Hiring an apprentice is an investment in your company’s future. By recruiting individuals before they have completed their formal training, you can directly shape the workforce of your company. You can also secure the most talented recruits before your competitors snap them up.

UPSKILL A CURRENT MEMBER OF STAFF

Skills learnt on an Apprenticeship will increase your employee’s ability to do their job, enhancing their performance and ultimately your bottom line. The more skilled your employees become, the bigger impact they can have on your business.

WHAT WILL THE APPRENTICE LEARN?

Engineering apprenticeships at Highbury College are incredibly flexible and can easily evolve to meet the changing skills needed in your business. There are six mandatory units and over 80 optional units, allowing you to build your ideal apprenticeship framework. 

Mandatory units include:

• Health and safety in the engineering workplace 
• Communications for engineering technicians 
• Engineering project
• Mathematics for engineering techniques
• Mechanical principles and applications 
• Electrical and electronic principles

Optional units include:

• Rubber products and specialist elastomers
• Rubber technology
• Mathematics for engineering technicians
• Applied electrical and mechanical science for engineering
• Electronic fault-finding
• Features and applications of electrical machines
• Principles and operation of three-phase systems
• Three-phase motors and drives
• Further electrical principles
• Theory of flight
• Aircraft maintenance practices
• Industrial robot technologies
• The principals of photonics
• Industrial robot technologies
• Principals of photonics
• Fault diagnosis and maintenance of communications equipment
• Communication technology
• Telecommunication principles
• Vehicle engine principles, operation, service and repair
• Vehicle electrical charging and starting systems
• Vehicle engine management systems
• Basic polymer technology
• Plastics materials
• Plastics processing
• Polymer process engineering
• Electronic circuit design and manufacture
• Principles and applications of electronic devices and circuits
• Metallurgical techniques
• Engineering maintenance procedures and techniques
• Monitoring and fault diagnosis of engineering systems
• Industrial plant and process control
• Function and characteristics of railway signalling systems
• Industrial process controllers
• Electrical technology
• Electrical installation
• Electronic measurement and testing
• Railway infrastructure construction and maintenance
• Principles and applications of analogue electronics
• Construction and applications of digital systems
• Microprocessor systems and applications
• Welding technology
• Industrial process measurement
• Selecting and using programmable controllers
• Applications of computer numerical control in engineering
• Welding principles
• Further mathematics for engineering technicians
• Manufacturing planning
• Setting and proving secondary processing machines
• Computer aided manufacturing
• Production system design
• Six sigma quality
• Business operations in engineering
• Engineering design
• Commercial aspects of engineering organisations
• Properties and applications of engineering materials
• Further mechanical principals and applications
• Applications of mechanical systems in engineering
• Principles and applications of fluid mechanics
• Principles and applications of Thermodynamics
• Electro, Pneumatic and Hydraulic systems and devices
• Engineering drawing for technicians
• Computer aided drafting in engineering
• Advanced mechanical principles and applications
• Mechanical measurement and inspection techniques
• Engineering primary forming processes
• Engineering secondary and finishing techniques
• Fabrication processes and technology

HOW MUCH DOES AN APPRENTICESHIP COST?

You can get help from the government to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment. The amount you get depends on whether you pay the apprenticeship levy or not. You will pay the apprenticeship levy if you're an employer with a pay bill over £3 million each year.

IF YOU DON'T NEED TO PAY THE APPRENTICESHIP LEVY

As an employer who doesn’t pay the apprenticeship levy, you will need to pay the training provider directly for training your apprentices. You pay 10% towards the cost of training and assessing your apprentice. The government will pay the rest (90%) up to the funding band maximum. They’ll pay the funds directly to the training provider.

EXTRA SUPPORT FOR SMALL EMPLOYERS

Employers with fewer than 50 people working for them will not have to pay the 10% contribution for an apprentice who is aged between:
- 16-18 years old
- 19-24 years old and who has previously been in care or who has an Education, Health and Care plan provided by their local authority

The government will pay 100% of the training costs for these individuals, up to the funding band maximum.

TRAINING YOUNGER APPRENTICES

All employers will receive £1,000 if, at the start of the apprenticeship, the apprentice is aged between:
- 16-18 years old
- 19-24 years old and who has previously been in care or who has an Education, Health and Care plan provided by their local authority

This payment will be made to the employer in two equal instalments via the training provider.

NATIONAL INSURANCE BREAKS FOR UNDER 25s

Employers of apprentices under the age of 25 will no longer be required to pay secondary Class 1 (employer) National Insurance contributions (NIC) on earnings up to the Upper Earnings Limit (currently £40,000), for those employees. This is up to a 13.8% saving on everything the apprentice earns over £8,424 a year for the employers of apprentices.