ES1.1
Being on an Apprenticeship
Education and Skills
- Education
Being on an Apprenticeship
According to the UK government, an apprenticeship is a paid job where the employee learns and gains valuable experiences.
Alongside on-the-job training, apprentices spend at least 20% of their working hours completing classroom-based learning with a college, university or training provider which leads to a nationally recognised qualification.
Key Value
A monetised social value of £32,700
This is the economic value of an apprenticeship measured in productive output of approximately £2,800 to the company, an estimated economic gain to the individual of £20,500, plus the social value of the wellbeing benefit to that apprentice at approximately £9,400.
The productive output figure for an apprentice is approximately £33,759 in 2021 prices , which was estimated by St. Martins Group in 2021 in their report “The Real Costs and Benefits of an Apprenticeship,” in partnership with City & Guilds and produced by the Centre of Economics and Business Research (Cebr). There are also apprentice subsidies of approximately £1,040. The report then deducts the apprentice wages (an approximate £17,278), training costs (£6,965) and additional expenses (£8,060). The remaining employer gains are approximately £2,496, or rounded to £2,500.
There is also a wellbeing benefit of £8,000 to the apprentice from being in paid employment, measured in WELLBYs as a change in wellbeing. 1 WELLBY is an increase in life satisfaction by 1 point on a scale of 0 to 10 and is worth £13,000 in monetised social value.
The estimated wage for an apprentice in 2023 figures is approximately £20,500 according to Total Jobs which represents economic gain to the individual.
Adding all of these together the total headline value for an apprenticeship for 1 year is £20,500 + £2,500 + £8,000 = £31,000.
Adjusted for inflation to 2023 prices this works out as: £20,500 + £2,816 (approx £2,800) + £9,389 (approx £9,400) = £32,705 in 2023 prices. Our approach to inflation adjustments is explained on our Methodology page HERE
An overall rounded value of £32,700.
Local Needs Analysis Data Source
Before using this MeasureUp value, we encourage you to assess the local need in relation to the activity or outcome.
Here is the most useful initial data source for assessing local need in relation to this value.
To assess local needs related to the value ES1.1 ‘Being on an apprenticeship’, a range of education and skills indicators can help capture young people’s engagement in apprenticeships and other training pathways. Key indicators include:
Apprenticeship starts and Apprenticeship achievements – Track how many people are starting and completing apprenticeships. Data is provided by the Office for National Statistics and is available annually at the local authority, combined authority, regional, and national levels. You can filter data by country, region, combined authority, or local authority, depending on the indicator.
Key Stage 4 performance – Measures academic achievement at the end of secondary school. Published by the Department for Education, this data is available at local authority, regional, and national levels.
Participation in education, training and NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) at age 16–17 – Indicates how many young people are staying in learning or training, and how many are disengaged. Available annually at the local authority level.
Destinations of Key Stage 4 and 5 students – Shows post-school pathways, such as apprenticeships, further education, or employment. Also published by the Department for Education, with data available at local authority, regional, and national levels.
Together, these indicators offer a comprehensive view of educational progression and vocational engagement, supporting targeted planning to improve apprenticeship access and outcomes.
How to measure the value of being on an apprenticeship
If you are just starting out, or planning a new apprenticeship programme, start at the Bronze level, and work on developing your measurement and valuation approach using the guidance to progress through to Silver, Gold, and Gold+ measurement.
Bronze
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Multiply the number of apprentices lasting at least a year by £32,700.
Silver
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Multiply the number of apprentices lasting at least a year by £32,700.
Gold
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At Gold level you are looking to build on your silver estimations by engaging with the person or people affected.
Gold+
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Gold+ level, you are building on your Gold value calculation by assessing the value against the counterfactual, or ‘what would have happened anyway’.
| Value Type: | Activity |
What's this?
This is the type of value. Some values are outcomes, which means many different interventions might lead to them, others are specific interventions that have a set value. |
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| UN SDG Categories: |
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What's this?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are global goals adopted in 2015 for all signed up nations to achieve for us to have a sustainable global future by 2030. There are 17 Goals that address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. |
| 2020 Social Value Models: |
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What's this?
PPN 06/20 Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts introduced the Central Government Social Value Model in 2020 which all Central Government contracting authorities must use in their in scope procurements. It consists of 5 themes, 8 policy outcomes, and 24 Model Award Criteria which outline key priority areas to achieve more social value. |
| 2025 Social Value Models: |
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What's this?
PPN 06/20 was superseded by PPN 002 Taking account of social value in the award of contracts, published in February 2025 in line with the Royal assent of the Procurement Act 2023. This PPN outlined the requirement to use the new 2025 Central Government Social Value Model. The Model applies to all Central Government procurements commencing on or after 1 October 2025 under the Procurement Act 2023. Out of scope procurements can choose to apply the model but are not required to do so. The updated model is structured around 5 government missions and 8 outcomes, with 17 Model Award Criteria, and a mandatory minimum 10% weighting of the total evaluation score assigned to social value. |
Evidence
Measure Up focuses on empowering you to numerically measure the impact you’re having. We recommend that numeric reports are backed up with stories and other types of evidence to help illustrate, in human terms, the impact that’s being made on individuals.
We recommend seeing consent from one or more participants in your intervention to collect and tell their story. This should include a little background on the participant, a summing up of life before the intervention, the human impact of the intervention, and the longer term (if known) impact on the person’s life outside of, and after, the intervention.
Providing photographs, audio recordings, video interviews or even artefacts from the intervention (for example, writing, paintings, music, etc from creative interventions) can add more colour, and convey the emotional impact of interventions more directly.
In some cases it’s appropriate to anonymise or abbreviate the personal information of case study participants. No story should be published or shared without the recorded consent of the individual(s) it concerns. Individuals continue to own the rights to their stories and if they request you stop sharing the story or making it available online you should do so promptly and without need for justification.
Feedback
Measure Up is an open, collaborative and transparent. If you have any suggestions or feedback on our pragmatic, recommended approach to measuring Life Satisfaction please get in touch so we can share and discuss this at our next Advisory Group meeting.
More help
We want to empower anyone to perform and improve their impact measurement – without needing a degree in economics.
If you need any more help, or just someone to do the legwork for you we can help signpost you to software, training and consultancy to help you get to grips with the impact you’re having.
