Chaos to Coordination - Towards a 'one-stop' apprenticeship platform
Local brokerage services can make a world of difference in engaging SMEs in apprenticeships. In Norfolk we stepped up our services following the pandemic; co-creating an inspiring SME focused TV and marketing campaign and provided a wide portfolio of practical and financial support for local SMEs. That year we saw an 18% growth in apprenticeships, compared to 9% nationally, and we’ve continued to see increasing numbers of SME-based apprenticeship starts since then.
There are similar intermediary services up and down the country doing equally amazing work – with initiatives often delivered by accessing short-term funding. Along with co-founding hubs in Solent, Manchester, Bristol and London, we created the National Apprenticeship Hub Network (NAHN) - bringing the opportunity for like-minded colleagues to share practice, lessons learned and opportunities for collaboration. The NAHN comprises around 25 organisations, services and projects providing free and impartial information, advice and guidance to businesses, predominantly SMEs, to champion and stimulate the growth of apprenticeships in their local area. The numbers speak for themselves, with areas like Norfolk and Solent surpassing the national average in terms of apprenticeship starts with employers who don’t pay the Apprenticeship Levy. (Click the graph to expand)
National Apprenticeship Hub members offer different types and varying levels of employer support; from helping employers to understand their skills needs and the apprenticeship offer, facilitating levy transfer and administering incentive payments, to organising B2B and training provider events, managing networks, delivering employer training and the ASK programme (which was defunded in August 2025). The golden thread that all brokerage services have in common is being free and impartial. As Edge highlighted in Agents of Change, below, ‘gold-standard’ brokerage may look different in every part of the country, but they do share some common elements:
- Boots on the ground: For SMEs especially, making it as simple as possible to engage with the brokerage service often requires personalised, direct outreach, not just another email in the inbox.
- Offering a personalised service: Meeting the employer where they’re at, understanding their wider goals and tailoring every approach.
- Realising the long-term benefits of apprenticeships: Not only helping businesses with filling immediate skills gaps, but also thinking about retention of the apprentice, including continuous skills development and progression opportunities.
- One front door: Joining-up apprenticeship brokerage with other business services to provide ‘one front door’ to holistic support.
- Stepping up the bar when it comes to aspiration and promotion.
Raising the profile and prestige of apprenticeships, communicating policy changes, and marketing the support available to SMEs is often neglected as a priority in central government budgets, but local brokerage services can be much better placed to understand their community and how they receive information best.
We are an organic, homegrown network, made up of some truly incredible organisations creating valuable impact in their regional communities. There is absolutely no competitiveness as we’re all working in different regions – just a shared purpose and desire to enhance our collective impact. I’m very proud of what we achieve, but goodwill and short-term funding can only take us so far. If we want a truly universal brokerage service, we need commitment from central government. That is why Edge’s report and this campaign are so important - calling on government to make sure every SME, regardless of postcode, can access the support they need to hire an apprentice.
Written by
Katy Dorman, Apprenticeship Strategy Manager, Apprenticeships Norfolk (Norfolk County Council) and Co-Chair of the National Apprenticeship Hub Network, and Jodi Fair, Growth Manager, Solent Growth Partnership and Co-Chair of the National Apprenticeship Hub Network