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Entries are now open for the 2022 Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers ranking, which celebrates England’s highest-performing apprentice employers.

Plus, this year, for the first time, small and medium sized (SME) businesses can also enter a new category honouring the Top 50 SME Apprenticeship Employers.

The annual rankings not only showcase employers providing some of the country’s most successful apprenticeship programmes, but they help future apprentices, parents and career advisers identify opportunities with leading employers.

They also enable all employers to see what ‘good’ looks like, so they can benchmark against the best and understand how they might improve their apprenticeship programmes to progress up the rankings in future.

The rankings are produced by the Department for Education and are independently verified, assessed, and compiled by High Fliers Research. 

The Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, said:

The business benefits and career opportunities created by apprenticeships makes them a key feature of our commitment to level up skills and opportunity across the country.

There are thousands of employers of all sizes and sectors that are providing individuals with the chance to learn new skills and have successful careers, while boosting their business’ success in the process.

The rankings will help everyone, from young people to career-changers, to make informed decisions about their future and unleash their full potential. I encourage all eligible employers to enter.

In the 2020 Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers ranking, the British Army came top. Col Matt Ketterer, DACOS Education Branch, told us:

Being listed top of the Top 100 was a really significant achievement for the Army. For those inside the organisation it provided reinforcement and validation of the outstanding training offer made to every soldier. Externally it demonstrated the breadth of the Army employment offer as well as its value to the individual whether their career aspiration remained within or outside the Army.

I would absolutely recommend that other businesses apply. Being listed allows potential apprentices to know you could be an employer of choice and with talent currently at a premium it is important that potential employees choose you as well as giving you the opportunity to choose and train the best.

Marc Steventon, Recruiting Operations Manager for the British Army, confirmed:

Having the ability to display the logo below has had enormous benefits to our profile and to our recruitment. It was regularly rolled out across Twitter and at careers fairs when speaking to students and parents.  For most this was the first time they realised we actually delivered apprenticeships in the Army. The award and the use of the logo cannot be underestimated, this is an external award saying how good we are and is taken note of by the people we seek to influence.

Richard Turner, Head of Apprenticeships at BT, stated:

As one of the largest private sector employers of apprentices in the UK, we were delighted to secure fourth place in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2020.

Every year, the number of people applying for our apprenticeship programme at BT increases. Being recognised externally not only raises awareness, but helps people to make a decision about which companies they’d like to work for.

It’s really important to celebrate and highlight the crucial role of apprenticeships in bringing in new talent and helping to support our economic recovery. We’d encourage even more employers to get involved.

Miranda Smith is the Head of Professional Development at Mazars, who placed sixth in the 2020 ranking. She commented:

The recognition was fantastic: it showed that we’re heading in the right direction, and it gave us even more motivation to support our team members with the highest standard of learning and development opportunities.

Being placed in the Top 100 also supported us in showcasing to potential new joiners and existing apprentices how important supporting their learning and development is to Mazars.

I definitely recommend for other businesses to apply for the Top 100; being ranked provides businesses with the recognition that they are investing in well-structured development programmes.

Entries are free-of-charge and the entry form has been specifically designed to be simple and straightforward for employers to complete.

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Friday 25th March 2022.

For more information about the rankings and to enter your organisation visit: https://www.topapprenticeshipemployers.co.uk/ and follow Apprenticeships Twitter and Apprenticeships LinkedIn for updates.