Nurse (Level 6)

Feedback from Managers on the benefits the Nursing apprenticeship has brought to the organisation:

”Apprentice has improved in self-confidence, time management and enhanced patient care.”

”The apprentice’s knowledge in areas has improved massively along with their confidence. Key areas like learning disabilities and palliative care will be very beneficial to the practice and patients.”

”It has allowed the practice to grow our own Nursing workforce and allowed succession planning.”

”Enabled us to fill a recruitment gap for a practice nurse vacancy. Improved learner confidence and competence and maintained patient satisfaction through consistency of workforce.”

”A valuable member of staff has enhanced the skills that they are able to offer the practice and our patients, we have the opportunity to offer the staff member a career that they would not have been able to undertake and I believe they will make a long term career in the NHS.”

”Holistic patient care, enhancing the nursing team offer and saving GP appointments.”

”Helped individual to grow and develop. Has also allowed us to look at the way we do things slightly differently based on perspectives from other parts of the health system and research.”

£27,000. This will be pro-rata for those candidates who are able to join later in the programme (£15,475 for the 18 month Top-Up).

Tuition fee financial support options and instructions on how to apply for these are detailed in our Apprenticeships Process Employer Guide.

• If apprentice is under the age of 25, Employer may not have to pay Class 1 Employer National Insurance. Full details and criteria are found here. 
• For apprenticeships starting between 1 August 2024 - 31 July 2026, employer may be eligible for £1,000 if apprentice is aged 16 - 18 years old (or 15 years of age if the apprentice’s 16th birthday is between the last Friday of June and 31 August); or aged between 19 and 24 years old and has either an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan provided by their local authority and / or has been, or are, in the care of their local authority. Full details and criteria are found within the relevant DfE Funding Rules.
• Some Councils are providing incentive payments to local small employers who recruit and employ young apprentices. To find out more, including eligibility and how to apply for an incentive, please visit Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub (details within the GRANT presentation)
  • Lancashire County Council incentive is £3,000 for 100 Lancashire employers
  • Chorley Council incentive is £1,500 for Chorley employers
  • Fylde Borough Council incentive is £5,000 for Fylde employers recruiting a new apprentice who is a Fylde resident.

For Primary Care Employers:

• ARRS Funding: Includes reimbursing training time for Nursing Associates to become Registered Nurses (via a ‘top-up’ Nursing apprenticeship). Contact your PCN for eligibility, availability and to apply. Use the Training Hub ARRS webpage  if you require further assistance.
• Nursing Top-Up and Nursing LD Pathway Funding for April 2025 – March 2026 intakes: deadline has passed for Employers to apply for this training grant.

Learning must cover pre-conception to death, across all four nursing fields (Adult, Child, MH and LD) and home, close to home and hospital settings. For LJMU their NMC validation requirements are minimum 2,300 hours of Theory and 2,300 hours of Practical learning over the duration of the course. This will be pro-rata for those candidates able to join later in the programme. Apprenticeships require learners to achieve specific new knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs). For this programme via LJMU, in order to achieve the NMC requirements and KSBs, apprentices MUST BE SUPERNUMERARY FOR THE DURATION OF THE APPRENTICESHIP. This is achieved by;
1) Programme Teaching; mostly delivered on set days 2-day per week. Induction will be delivered as a block week. The days mapped for teaching are fixed (example planners are available).
2) Independent study; such as assignment/project research and write up.
3) Learning in the workplace; shadowing colleagues, completing programme assigned work based projects, day-to-day development within your current role duties/work activities, reflections with assessor, relevant training sessions. As this programme with LJMU requires learner to be supernumerary, please do check what work-place activities will be acceptable and if any hours/time remains for current working duties.
4) External Placements; are required for this programme. There are 2 external placements in each year, 1 x 4 week placement and 1 x 9 week placement. External placement are usually arranged by LJMU and usually within 1.5 hours of travel time – however most are situated within Cheshire and Merseyside. If other locations are required, external placements can be facilitated by the employer (supported by your locality GPEF) but will require pre-approval from the University’s practice learning team for quality assurance purposes.

• Employed 37.5 hours or more per week for the duration of the apprenticeship (if employed less than 37.5 hours but no lower than 30 hours, you are still able to apply, however as this will reduce the remaining working hours for undertaking working duties a meeting will be arranged to discuss suitability with Course Lead).
• Certificate/s to evidence both Maths and English at either GCSE C/4 (or higher) or Functional Skills Level 2 from an Ofqual approved examining organisation remains an entry requirement. If the candidate does not have evidence of Maths and English at the relevant level, there is access to NHSE funded online revision and exams. Contact Training Hub Apprenticeship Team for more details.
• For the full 37 month programme: Evidence of UCAS points is required (typically minimum of 56 UCAS tariff points from A Levels and BTECs).
• For the NA/AP Top-Up: Nursing Associate/Assistant Practitioner Certificate and Transcript are required. NA/AP applications will complete a Record of Prior Learning (RPEL) process to determine mapping their prior learning to the suitable joining point in the programme.
• Recent Enhanced DBS and OH clearances (Employer’s responsibility).

Full requirements and details are found on the university course webpage.

• Ensure Learner has the support and opportunities to achieve the requirements of the apprenticeship.
• The Practice will need 2 Practice Assessors (must be Registered Nurses within the relevant nursing field) and a current Educational Audit (ULE). Locality GPEF to support Employer with these checks (including any relevant training and paperwork approval).
• University’s NMC Employer Partner Approval: LJMU will undertake quality assurance checks in order to add/keep Employer on LJMU’s NMC Practice Learning Partner approved list. Employers are to seek guidance from their Locality GPEF where relevant.
• LJMU currently provide student apprentice uniforms. Please check this with LJMU when you apply.

Full requirements and details are found on the university course webpage.

• It takes on average 3-4 months to complete all application stages for this programme.
• If recruiting to this position, additional time will be required for recruitment and advertising stages

Education Provider deadlines include:

Further Programme and Provider Information

• Check the Provider's latest Ofsted Rating
• Check the Provider's latest Achievement Rates and Reviews

• Apprenticeship Standard

Programme Webpages:

• Nursing (Adult)
• Nursing (Child)
• Nursing (Mental Health)
• Nursing (Adult) top-up
• Nursing (Child) top-up
• Nursing (Mental Health) top-up

If you would like to know anything further about the programme itself, please contact: Rachel Howard, Programme Lead on [email protected] or Joanne Fisher, Apprenticeship Lead on [email protected]

How to Apply

If you would like to apply for an apprenticeship (either for yourself, a member of staff or a vacancy position), please complete the Primary Care Expression of Interest Form. This is for Primary Care Employers within Lancashire and South Cumbria only. By completing the expression of interest form, the Training Hub Apprenticeships team will be able to complete basic pre-checks, provide you with personalised guidance, and start the programme application process for you. If you would like to discuss anything first, please email [email protected] or call Olivia, Apprenticeships Manager, on 07735161775. You can find out more about the stages of applying for an apprenticeship within our Apprenticeships Process - Employer Guide. Social Care Employers within Lancashire and South Cumbria, please contact Dawn on [email protected]