Recently the Department of Education published an interesting report about apprenticeships and further education (FE). As expected with any government report, it is very detailed, but there are some exceptionally interesting things to glean from the findings. It focuses on the end results of further education in comparison to apprenticeships; looking at completion rates, levels of learning and the earnings beyond the training. We’re particularly interested in the earnings of apprentices beyond the completion of their programme.

The variation of salaries in the report depends on two things; the level of the Apprenticeship undertaken (Level 3 is equivalent to A-Levels and Level 4, a foundation diploma) and the duration of time since the completion of the course.

Below are the results of earnings over a 5-year period beyond completion. For a more detailed look into the incremental year-by-year figures please see the link to the full report at the bottom of this piece.

Level 2/Intermediate –  1st Year – £16,200 — 5th year – £18,200

Level 3/Advanced – 1st Year – £16,500 — 5th year – £21,000

Level 4/Higher – 1st year – £17,400 — 5th year – £26,700

Putting this into context; the Daily Mail reported that the average monthly income for someone in their 30’s was £2,331 – which is around £30,000 to £32,000 yearly, depending on your student loan, tax etc.

As an example, a learner could start a level 3 apprenticeship at 17 (taking 15 months – meaning they finish before they’re 19) and then decide to progress onto on a level 4 (which lasts 18 months). That means by the time they are 25-26 they could be earning £26,700. Using the same trajectory, by the age of 31 they could be earning £32,000+. Feasibly, past apprentices could hit the average earnings for their age group in the first year of their 30’s, giving them 9 years to try and climb up the ladder and increase their earnings until the dreaded 40’s!

What does this mean for businesses?

Within my role as a Development Coach I am about to support a young learner through the completion of his level 4 digital marketing course. The company he works for has two members of staff – including him! As the learner is finishing they are now offering him a full time job with a wage higher than the £17,400 reported. As well as this they have also have hired an additional member of staff within their company. This is living proof that the apprenticeship programme can help a company grow to the extent that the apprentice is generating additional revenue for their wages and more which will help secure the future growth of the business.

The rest of the report is linked here; it really is an interesting read for both learners and employers so please do take a look!

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Or if you want to find more about apprenticeships please click here