Caring Homes Marks National Apprenticeship Week With More Opportunities Than Ever Before
2025 sees the continuation of last year’s exciting developments in the apprenticeship programme at Caring Homes. We celebrate National Apprenticeship Week with a review of our achievements and a look at what’s to come in the year ahead.
Building on the Success of our Apprenticeship Roadshow
We began 2024 by relaunching our apprenticeship programme, partnering with two new providers, Impact Futures and HIT Training, with a focus on development and upskilling employees at every level. Our Learning & Development team travelled the country to deliver a group-wide Apprenticeship Roadshow, bringing apprenticeships to life by communicating the benefits, highlighting the different courses on offer and banishing the misconception that they are solely junior-level qualifications.
As a result, more employees than ever before signed up to do an apprenticeship, choosing from a wide range of areas which for the first time included Hospitality alongside Business Admin, Maintenance, Marketing and Events, to name a few.
New Nursing Associate Apprenticeship Gains Momentum
Our apprenticeships programme is evolving further in 2025. We’re especially proud of the first four carers to begin a Nursing Associate programme - a placement-led apprenticeship in association with a university, leading to a degree. As this cohort completes their first placement, we’re delighted that two more carers are about to join the programme, and the opportunity to sign up for a Nursing Associate apprenticeship will extend across the whole group this year.
We currently have 8 staff studying for the highest qualification – Level 7 in Leadership – which is the equivalent of a master’s degree. This will be fantastic achievement for these individuals as they develop the skills to further influence key operations and outcomes in their roles at Caring Homes.
Apprenticeships at All Levels and Open to Everyone
One of the benefits of offering apprenticeships is to help companies develop and retain loyal, skilled teams, with 60% of apprentices staying with their employer after completing the course and 78% of employers reporting improved productivity*. At Caring Homes there’s a wide variety of programmes available to suit all levels and the opportunity to do an apprenticeship is open to any member of our teams. We are also excited to announce that external candidates looking to work with us can now apply to join Caring Homes on an apprenticeship scheme.
Signing up for an apprenticeship requires a commitment from the individual and also from their manager who supports and regularly reviews the progress as part of the employee’s Personal Development Plan. As a way of acknowledging the effort required to complete an apprenticeship, we launched our ‘Learner of the Month’ award in February – a way of regularly recognising those who are going above and beyond to accomplish these new goals alongside their day-to-day duties at Caring Homes.
Countless Opportunities, Support and Development
Caring Homes’ Head of People, Catherine Martin, has been instrumental in driving the apprenticeship programme forward, making it accessible to all as part of their development with the company. Cat explained, “At Caring Homes, we take great pride in offering every employee the opportunity to grow and develop. Careers in health and social care are limitless—whether you join us as a care assistant or a chef, working in care provides countless opportunities, along with the chance to gain qualifications. I’m currently working on my Level 7 Senior Leadership qualification alongside several of our managers, and the skills we’re learning are helping us not only improve ourselves but also support the development of our teams. Learning at any age can be challenging, but it’s also incredibly rewarding and inspiring”.
With another Apprenticeship Roadshow in the pipeline, Caring Homes is looking forward to building on last year’s achievements and making apprenticeships appealing and rewarding for even more of our employees in 2025.
*Data source: Department of Education October 2024. Statistics: Further Education and Skills – GOV.UK
