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Apprenticeships across West Sussex

The County Council has embraced apprenticeships and wishes other employers to do likewise. Any businesses new to apprenticeships can access information and advice from the Apprentice Makers website. West Sussex also offers business advice to any employer new to Apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships are a key way of boosting the local economy, through providing training along side paid work opportunities, providing opportunities for skills development, all of which can enhance productivity and increase competitiveness of businesses.
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The National Apprenticeship Service is part of the Skills Funding Agency


March 2021 performance

Following the significant drop in apprenticeship starts in the last academic year, both locally and nationally, this year saw growth. The number of new starts in 2019/20 (to Quarter 3) in West Sussex was 3,670. Generally, across the region and the country, apprenticeships starts have risen since last 2017/18.
 It is likely that this is due to employers and training providers becoming more familiar with the apprenticeship levy, introduced in 2017, and the significant development of new apprenticeship standards, meaning they more readily meet the need of employers.
West Sussex County Council is continuing to support and promote apprenticeships through Apprenticeship Information Fairs, an annual apprentice graduation ceremony, the significant increase in the number of apprenticeships starting in the county council and schools and through its levy transfer funding programme.  We have currently connected to around 30 SME employers in the county and are funding their apprenticeship training through our transfer programme.
 Since 2015/16, West Sussex have provided over 26,380 new apprenticeships starts for our community, which is an average over 5,000 per academic year.
Further information can be found at: Apprenticeships and traineeships data

Since 2015/16, West Sussex have provided over 21,300 new apprenticeships starts for our community, which is an average over 5,300 per academic year.

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The County Council has now connected its digital apprenticeship account with some 50 employers in West Sussex where we have committed to fund an apprenticeship. There are 32 apprenticeship programmes we are actively funding. National Apprenticeship Week was held from 3rd to 9th February and the County Council actively supported this by organising two School Job Fairs which had a strong apprenticeship presence and every delegate (about 300 in total) was given a promotional apprenticeship goody bag. There was also an apprenticeship job Fair in Crawley held that week and another in Horsham later in February.
Unfortunately the Apprenticeship Fair organised in Mid Sussex has had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic along with the annual apprenticeship graduation ceremony which was due to take place in June.  The County Council is mindful of the impact the pandemic will have on apprenticeship starts in the future.
West Sussex County Council is continuing to support and promote apprenticeships through Apprenticeship Information Fairs, an annual apprentice graduation ceremony. There has been a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships starting in the county council and schools and through its levy transfer funding programme.  We have currently connected to 31 SME employers in the county and are funding their apprenticeship training through our transfer programme. More details can be found here
Apprentices in West Sussex County Council
We also measure the numbers of apprentices within West Sussex County Council. Read more for further details.