Public sector bodies in England with 250 or more staff previously had a target to employ an average of at least 2.3% of their staff as new apprentice starts over the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022.
The public sector apprenticeships target came to an end on 21 March 2022. From this date there is no longer a target set for public sector employers although we will continue to gather and report on this data.
Bodies in scope had regard to the target meaning that, in making workforce planning decisions, the Council actively considered apprenticeships either for new recruits or as part of career development for existing staff. This is still the case even though the official target has ended.
The target was for new apprenticeship starts, which included both existing staff that started an apprenticeship and new recruits and measured these as a percentage of the total headcount of the public body at the beginning of the reporting period.
The target was an average over four years, split into individual reporting periods covering each financial year - 1 April to 31 March.
In addition to the staff the Council employs in its’ corporate workforce, staff based in schools where the Council is the employer are also in scope for the target.
The Council is responsible for reporting on progress towards meeting the target. Although the Councils overall target must include all staff in scope, reporting can be split to show the corporate workforce and schools separately.
Read more about on public sector apprenticeships in England on GOV.UK
Targets
Suffolk County Council corporate workforce
Reporting year
|
Target number of new apprenticeship starts
|
Actual number of new apprenticeship starts
|
% increase on the number of new starts in the previous year
|
Apprenticeship starts as a percentage of headcount (target is 2.3%)
|
Percentage of target met
|
April 2017 to March 2018
|
131
|
43
|
N/A
|
0.8%
|
33%
|
April 2018 to March 2019
|
129
|
50
|
16%
|
0.9%
|
39%
|
April 2019 to March 2020
|
125
|
107
|
114%
|
2.0%
|
85%
|
April 2020 to March 2021
|
123
|
75
|
-30% |
1.4%
|
61%
|
April 2021 to March 2022
|
124
|
74
|
-1% |
1.4%
|
60%
|
Suffolk County Council school workforce
Reporting year
|
Target number of new apprenticeship starts
|
Actual number of new apprenticeship starts
|
% increase on the number of new starts in the previous year
|
Apprenticeship starts as a percentage of headcount (target is 2.3%)
|
Percentage of target met
|
April 2017 to March 2018
|
176
|
19
|
N/A
|
0.2%
|
10.8%
|
April 2018 to March 2019
|
141
|
12
|
-37%
|
0.2%
|
8.5%
|
April 2019 to March 2020
|
114
|
25
|
108%
|
0.5%
|
22%
|
April 2020 to March 2021
|
104
|
36
|
44% |
0.79%
|
35%
|
April 2021 to March 2022
|
99
|
28
|
-22% |
0.65%
|
28%
|
Suffolk County Council combined schools and corporate workforce
Reporting year
|
Target number of new apprenticeship starts
|
Actual number of new apprenticeship starts
|
% increase on the number of new starts in the previous year
|
Apprenticeship starts as a percentage of headcount (target is 2.3%)
|
Percentage of target met
|
April 2017 to March 2018
|
307
|
62
|
N/A
|
0.46%
|
20%
|
April 2018 to March 2019
|
270
|
62
|
0%
|
0.53%
|
23%
|
April 2019 to March 2020
|
238
|
132
|
113%
|
1.27%
|
55%
|
April 2020 to March 2021
|
226
|
111
|
-16% |
1.1%
|
49%
|
April 2021 to March 2022
|
224
|
102
|
-8% |
1.0%
|
46%
|