Partners
Councils, schools and training organisations
We work alongside organisations that are already supporting people into work and training. In most cases there is no cost to you at all.
For councils
An additional partner at no cost
We are not asking you to commission anything. We sit alongside your existing employment and skills work as an extra resource: free independent advice and guidance for residents and businesses, upskilling routes from Level 2 to Level 7, and career pathways for young people, people out of work and career changers.
There is no charge to the council and no charge to the resident.
For your residents
Independent advice, apprenticeship matching, free online courses and support through application and interview.
For your own workforce
Packages built by individual, department or job role. Online courses for compliance and mandatory training, commercial and accredited courses where an apprenticeship is not the right fit, and apprenticeships at every level for the people you already employ.
For local employers
A free route for businesses in your area to reach expertise they could not otherwise afford, and to grow their own talent rather than compete for it. What they get.
Programmes we build with you
These are starting points, not fixed products. Every council has different priorities, different funding and different gaps, so we would rather design something around yours than sell you something off a shelf.
A New Beginning
A short cohort programme for residents looking for work or training, designed with the council rather than handed to you finished. We bring the training, the employer relationships, the one to one support and the route into real vacancies. You bring the local knowledge, the referral routes, the venue and the practical things participants need to take part, such as devices and travel. We build the shape of it together around what your residents actually need.
Real Chance Here
A longer cohort model for people who need more than a signposting service, built with you rather than bid at you. We bring the training, the employer relationships and the sustained one to one support. You bring the referral routes, the wraparound support your teams already provide, and the local picture of who is being missed. Structured to work alongside DWP and Jobcentre Plus provision rather than duplicate it.
Employers in your area
A hundred years of experience, available to a five person business
A small employer cannot employ a learning and development manager, an apprenticeship specialist and a compliance officer. So they guess, or they do nothing. Usually they do nothing.
Between our team we have over a hundred years in this system, from former college principals through to apprenticeship directors, recruitment and compliance specialists. Businesses in your area get access to all of it, for free, and it does not run out after the first meeting.
Advice, information and guidance
Free, and genuinely free. Funding eligibility, what a programme involves, whether it is the right answer at all. No obligation to use us afterwards. Where we go on to arrange training or an apprenticeship there is no charge to the employer. A full recruitment service may carry a small fee, agreed up front before any work starts.
The whole team, not one contact
Whatever the question is, someone here has done that job. Quality and compliance, recruitment, workforce planning, safeguarding. That expertise comes with the relationship at no extra charge.
Recruitment and onboarding
Scoping the role, writing the advert, screening for eligibility, shortlisting, and supporting the first weeks so a new starter actually sticks.
We manage the relationship
Employers deal with us, not with three providers and an awarding body. We hold the partnership together so a small business is not chasing paperwork it does not understand.
Monthly reporting
Every month: a check-in with each apprentice, a quality and compliance check on the provider, and a written report to the employer. Problems surface while they are still fixable.
What it does for you
Local businesses growing their own workforce, filling skills gaps without poaching, and creating routes for your residents. All at no cost to the council.
Your own workforce
You are already paying for a lot of this
Every council pays the apprenticeship levy. Most do not spend all of it, and from August 2026 new levy funds expire after 12 months rather than 24. That is money leaving the organisation for nothing.
We will look at what is sitting in your account, where it could go, and what happens if it is not used. No charge for the review.
Spent your levy already?
You can still take on apprentices, and for anyone aged 16 to 24 government now funds the training in full even though your levy is gone. For apprentices aged 25 and over you co-invest at 25 percent, so a £12,000 programme costs the council £3,000. Worth knowing before anyone assumes the door has closed.
We manage the apprentices too
Not just the enrolment. Monthly check-ins with each apprentice, monthly quality and compliance checks on the provider, a monthly report to you, and end point assessment preparation. Your managers keep their day jobs.
Online and commercial courses
Our library covers compliance, health and safety, safeguarding, data protection and wellbeing, set up in days and tracked centrally. Where a subject needs something more specialist, we source accredited and commercial courses outside the funded system.
Levy transfer
You can transfer up to 50 percent of unspent levy to smaller employers in your area. A practical way to turn money you would otherwise lose into local economic impact. We can help find and vet the businesses.
For schools and colleges
Sessions that give students a real second option
Most students hear a lot about university and very little that is accurate about apprenticeships. We come in and fix that, in language they will actually listen to.
Year 10 and 11 sessions
What an apprenticeship is, what the levels mean, what you get paid, and what is available locally.
Next steps for leavers
One to one guidance for students who are undecided or who have not got the grades they expected.
Parent evenings
The apprenticeship versus university conversation, run properly, with the numbers on the table.
Work with us
Interested in becoming an associate?
We work with a small number of associates who know their sector and know people. If you have spent time in apprenticeships, recruitment, further education or employer engagement, and you would rather work your own contacts than someone else's desk, have a conversation with us.
Tell us a bit about your background and where you are based. If there is a fit we will arrange a call. Nothing formal at this stage.
Who tends to suit it
People with real sector relationships and a name worth something locally. Experience matters more than a sales background.
How it works
You introduce employers you already know. We handle the matching, the provider, the funding and the paperwork, so you are never on the hook for delivery.
What happens next
An informal conversation. We will be straight with you about whether there is enough in your patch to make it worth your time.
For training organisations
Thinking about becoming an apprenticeship provider?
Registration is a long process and most organisations underestimate it. We provide consultancy and support for training companies working towards provider registration, drawing on twenty years inside the system.
Readiness review
An honest assessment of where you are and what registration would actually require of you.
Referral partnerships
If registration is not right for you, we can work together instead. We qualify and introduce, you deliver.
Talk to us
Fifteen minutes, no hard sell
Grab a slot in Karl's diary. Free advice, no pitch. If what you need is not something we do, we will say so and point you at who does.