---
tags: general
---
# Apprenticeship partnerships

*General circle, 15/04/2020*

A policy for how to engage partners on apprenticeships.

## Why?

Once we are registered as an apprenticeship training provider, the onus is on us to find employers who are willing to appoint us as their training partner or, if we hire the apprentices, to contract with us to provide them with developers.

## How?

There are five broad ways we could bring apprentices onto our programme:

1. Prospective apprentices apply to our programme, we filter them, and then employers interview and hire them;
2. An employer does their own hiring and then sends their apprentices to join our programme;
3. Empoyers hire several apprentices and we deliver tailored training for them;
4. A partner organisation sources applicants, provides them with some additional support, identifies employers and we pay them a proportion of the training fee;
5. We hire apprentices and then they work with us, mentoring in the classroom or contracting with clients, so that we recover some of the difference between the cost of hiring them and the training fee.

## Benefits

Every additional apprentice brings additional budget, and it is unlikely that we will fill an entire cohort of 16 with just one kind of apprentice--at least not immediately.

| Description | Comments |
| -------- | -------- |
| 1. Employers hire our candidates | Most like our current way of operating, maximises income with least disruption to the way we now operate |
| 2. Employers send us their apprentices | We lose some control over the makeup of our intake and level of preparation |
| 3. Employers send us a whole apprentice cohort | Generates a lot of additional income, but (like Beamery) would require significant additional work and resources |
| 4. A candidate and employer sourcing partner | Sacrifices some income per apprentice to the partner, but grows the number of apprentices |
| 5. We employ the apprentices | May not generate as much income, but allows us to do a self-funded version of the founders programme and to train course faciitators and do more Tech for Better work |

## Examples

I have been talking to Leti at https://paz.ai/ (intro'd by Jack, FAC17). She has been looking for an apprenticeship training partner, so that she can send her users (refugees, mostly) through our programme employed through her employer network. She is looking for ~£5k per apprentice to make this viable for her for which she would provide candidates, additional pastoral care support and employers. This would come out of our £18k apprentice training budget.

## Proposals

| Description | Comments | Gross | Timing | Priority |
| ------- | -------- | ----- | ---- | ---: |
| 1. Our candidates | Focus on this as our preferred route for now | £18k | Summer | 1 |
| 2. Employer candidates | Be prepared to do this as long as we can find a way to ensure a cohort remains balanced and prepared | £18k | Summer | 2 |
| 3. A sourcing partner | Be prepared to pay a third party up to £5,000 per apprentice if they help us source candidates, and employers, we are not reaching. | £13k | Summer | 2 |
| 4. A whole apprentice cohort | Be willing to do tailored training programme for 6 or more apprentices | £18k | Autumn | 2 |
| 5. Our apprentices #1 | Self-fund two Founders Programme apprenticeships per cohort where the apprentices get paid a minimum of £18,000 over 12 months to either build an agency, like Simon and Joe, or their own product | Nil | 2021 | 3 |
| 6. Our apprentices #2 | Self-fund one or two CF apprenticeships per cohort where the apprentices get paid £24,000 over 12 months to be more focused on course facilitation and mentoring | -£6k | 2021 | 3 |
| 7. Our apprentices #3 | Self-fund two Tech for Better apprenticeships per cohort where the apprentices get paid £24,000 over 12 months, but where at least £12,000 (more if we can get it) is covered by contracts with third sector funders. | £6k+ | 2021 | 3 |

## When?

Start talking to potential partners as soon as we have agreed the constraints.

## Who?

Dan, mostly

## Meetings notes

The **Proposals** table was updated with gross, timing and priority columns and the proposal was passed in its current form.