Apprenticeship FAQs

No – the eligibility criteria to apply for this apprenticeship (and use your trust levy for funding) simply states that the potential apprentice must be an employee of the trust and must have a contract of employment that covers the entire apprenticeship. However, you may find that there are benefits to moving your employee on to an orthoptic apprenticeship contract, which may help to streamline their workload in line with the apprenticeship.

There is no prescriptive pay banding set at a national level for this apprenticeship. Some trusts and regions mandate that all apprentices are paid at a particular pay band, whereas others are more flexible. This allows for potential applicants from different levels of experience and prior recognition, to enter the apprenticeship programme without facing a salary reduction.

No – we are aiming for all apprentices to visit three separate sites – a different one each year to ensure that they achieve both depth and breadth of practice beyond their home healthcare setting. Attendance at placement is mandatory.

The online synchronous teaching day with the University of Sheffield is between 9.15am and 4.45pm on Thursdays (except for one study block as indicated on the delivery plan). Apprentices would need to be available for all of the synchronous sessions and engagement and attendance at these would be monitored quite closely as per Ofsted/DfE regulations for apprenticeship programmes. The remaining hours of employment could be worked out around this. The delivery programme includes a day of independent / asynchronous learning on Fridays and this additionally could give some flexibility.

As an employee of the trust, the apprentice will receive an annual leave allowance from the Trust. We share our entire apprenticeship teaching delivery plan for all three years during the onboarding process, with all apprentices and employers, to allow a transparent view of the apprentice’s timetable throughout the programme. Within the delivery plan we have allocated reading weeks and identified university closure weeks during which we encourage apprentices to take annual leave. Apprentices must not miss planned teaching days or exams unless permission is sought and granted.

We are very experienced at delivering learning online and will make sure that the teaching sessions are interactive and engaging, with plenty of opportunities for breaks and movement. Some apprentices may do their online learning day from home and some may come into their Trust to work from a communal office as part of the team and either experience is fine for us.

Not at all. The modules and academic content are identical to the BMedSci Orthoptics programme. Only the delivery method and certain assessment formats differ to suit the work-based environment. Students graduating from both degree programmes will be eligible for HCPC registration and must therefore meet the Standards of Proficiency for this.

Attendance and engagement monitoring for the Orthoptist Apprenticeship at the University of Sheffield is a rigorous process designed to meet both academic standards and Department for Education (DfE) funding requirements. Because this is a level 6 degree apprenticeship with a significant online component, the university uses a “multi-touchpoint” digital approach. Apprentices will need to regularly log in to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which is Blackboard Ultra. This includes:

• Frequency and duration of logins.
• Accessing mandatory reading materials and recorded lectures.
• Participation in discussion forums or interactive work-based exercises.
• Completion of formative (practice) quizzes.

The AHPNM Apprenticeship Team will notify employers when/if their apprentices are absent from study days, so that this can be followed up with the apprentice as appropriate. Where absence is unavoidable, apprentices can evidence learning which covers their absence, effectively making up any missed hours.

This will be captured through your Clinical Portfolio and Off-the-Job (OTJ) hours log. You are required to record the time spent on learning activities at your trust (60% of your time).These logs are reviewed during your Tripartite Reviews every 10–12 weeks to ensure you are meeting the required training hours.

Yes. Attendance at the Year 1 Welcome Week, the annual clinical exams at the University of Sheffield, the 2 days in Year 2 for Optics teaching, and the month-long alternative placements, are all mandatory.

This is a tripartite responsibility. While the university monitors the academic data, your Clinical Mentor at the trust provides feedback on your work-based engagement. Every 10–12 weeks, all three parties (Apprentice, Employer, University) meet to sign off on your progress.

This will be a mandatory online meeting with the apprentice, a member of the academic team at the university and the Clinical Mentor. It is a check-in every 10-12 weeks to make sure that the clinical learning in the workplace aligns with the academic requirements of the degree. Each meeting will have a different focus, but essentially the purpose is to discuss the progress of the apprentice since the last review, checking on the apprentice’s well-being and making sure their workload is manageable and setting some targets for the next quarter.

For 2026 entre we are looking to have a cohort of 15-20 and will review numbers for successive years after this and look to increase the cohort size if demand is high. We are looking to provide apprentices as a continuous pipeline, so we would ideally rather have steady, similar sized cohorts rather than huge cohorts initially and then lesser numbers.

We don’t expect this new route to affect our traditional route entry numbers. For other AHP courses such as prosthetics and speech and language therapy courses, numbers for both apprenticeships and traditional-route entry have each increased after apprenticeships were launched due to the increased visibility of the profession that apprenticeships bring. The apprenticeship is intended to attract different and diverse learners through the blended learning, national reach approach, allowing talent growth and nurture from local communities.

Apprentices will be key members of the orthoptic team, employed by the trust and able to contribute to orthoptic care and team responsibilities progressively, as the course develops. The orthoptic apprenticeship plan has been purposefully frontloaded educationally, so that apprentices can be as useful as possible from day one on the job. As apprentices develop, their orthoptic skills will increase. We anticipate that by the third year, apprentices will be highly useful pre-registration professionals, able to help the team meet capacity. They are therefore not considered in student placement numbers in the same way as the other pre-registration traditional route programmes. Apprentices and traditional students bring different yet equally valuable experiences to their placement. We believe they have much to learn from one another whilst gaining clinical exposure.

We will bring both apprentices and traditional-route students together for an introductory week in Sheffield. Both groups of learners can trade their clinical insights – their different paths offer unique perspectives that can significantly enrich each other’s learning.

For 2026-27 and possibly onwards, NHSE has an allocation of grants to support the orthoptic apprenticeship, offering ~£8000 per apprentice per year to help employers mitigate the challenges of apprenticeships in this small and vital profession. This is in addition to the apprenticeship levy and final clearance, and further information on this is expected from NHSE imminently.

Additionally, the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF) can provide training grants to support apprenticeships. This has been used by other apprenticeship employers to buy items such as laptops, anatomy models, backfill for apprentice education, and travel costs, including the cost of staying overnight for university-based teaching and exams. For further information, please check the NHSBSA website or discuss with your apprenticeship lead.

Yes, it is possible, but they must meet a specific “3-year residency” rule set by the UK government. Under the current Department for Education rules, to be eligible for apprenticeship funding, the non-UK national employee must generally:

1. Have the Right to Work: A Skilled Worker visa provides this.
2. Ordinary Residence: They must have been “ordinarily resident” in the UK for at least the 3 years immediately preceding the start of the apprenticeship.

Time spent in the UK solely on a Student Visa (formerly Tier 4) often does not count toward this 3-year requirement if the individual was here only for the purpose of full-time education. They must have been living in the UK for a “settled purpose” during that time. Their visa must cover the entire duration of the apprenticeship (36 months + EPA). A Skilled Worker visa is tied to a specific SOC Code (Occupation Code) and salary. If the apprenticeship requires them to change their job title or significantly alter their duties, their Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) with the Home Office may also need updating. Apprenticeship wages are often lower than the “going rate” required for a Skilled Worker visa. You must ensure the salary remains above the Home Office minimum threshold (currently around £23,200–£25,000 for Health & Care roles, depending on the specific code) even while they are an apprentice. Apprenticeship funding is considered educational funding, not a “public fund.” Therefore, the “No Recourse to Public Funds” (NRPF) condition on their visa does not prevent them from doing an apprenticeship.

Yes! We are happy to consider applications from prospective apprentices who have experience of working within an ophthalmology role, but who don’t meet the A-level requirements. Apprentices will need to be able to meet the academic demands of the course, and we recognise that entering a university programme may be daunting to some prospective apprentices. There is support available to apprentices around topics such as study skills and academic writing through the University of Sheffield Academic Skills Centre.

The Department for Education (DfE) offers three funding options for employers: the apprenticeship levy, co-investment and Levy transfer:

• Apprenticeship Levy: Employers with an annual payroll of £3 million or more are required to pay a mandatory 0.5% levy on their payroll. These funds are pooled into a central fund managed by the DfE, then allocated to training providers to support the delivery of apprenticeships. Employers can access levy funds through their Apprenticeship Service (AS) account. If a Levy paying employer uses all of its levy funds, it will automatically move into the co-investment model, where they are required to pay 25% of the remaining cost.
• Co-investment: Employers with an annual payroll below £3 million are not subject to the apprenticeship levy. However, they can still access funding for apprenticeships through the co-investment option. Under co-investment, employers contribute 10% of the total apprenticeship training costs, while the government covers the remaining 90%.
• Levy transfer: The DfE also allows levy-paying employers to transfer up to 50% of their unused levy funds to other employers. This option, known as levy transfer, enables employers with surplus levy funds to support the development of skills in their industry or community. By transferring funds, larger employers can help small businesses or charities access apprenticeship funding, expanding apprenticeship reach. Transferred funds can only be used to pay for training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts. A transfer must be agreed and put in place before an apprentice (being funded by the transfer) starts their apprenticeship, and detailed in the contract and payment schedule. The only exception to this is where the apprentice is changing employers and an agreement to continue their apprenticeship with their new employer is via a transfer of levy funds – this must be agreed by the point the apprentice starts with their new employer. For information about levy transfer, please contact Danielle Walker (Danielle.Walker@sheffield.ac.uk) or your local ICB, if you are not based in South Yorkshire

Levy funds can only be used to pay for apprentices to achieve qualifications that are set out in their approved apprenticeship training programme and are deemed necessary to be effective in the job, such as a degree or diploma.

Levy funds can’t be used to pay apprentice wages, for ‘top-up’ qualifications, or qualifications that are not already approved as part of the apprenticeship. Levy can also not be used for Statutory licences to practise and travel, and subsidiary costs. All non-levy paying organisations must set up an Apprenticeship Service (AS) account as well to reserve government co-investment funding.

The Apprenticeship Service Account (AS Account) is a secure online platform that allows employers to manage their apprenticeship funding, enrolments, and payments. All employers need to be on the AS and have an account for the funding to be monitored, regardless of levy, co-investment or transfer. This needs to be in place before the start date of the programme.

Key Features of the AS Account:

Sign in to your apprenticeship service account here

The AS Account offers a suite of features designed to simplify and streamline apprenticeship management:

1. Funding Overview for levy-paying employers only: View your levy balance, funding history, and upcoming payments to gain a comprehensive understanding of your apprenticeship finances.
2. Reserve funding for the apprenticeship.
3. Apprentice Management: Enrol new apprentices, track their progress, and manage their apprenticeship records, ensuring compliance and efficient administration.
4. Provider Management: Add and manage training providers, review their credentials and performance, and make payments directly through the AS Account.
5. Reporting and Analytics: Access detailed reports and data visualisations to gain insights into your apprenticeship program, identify trends, and make informed decisions.
6. Secure Access: Employ robust security measures to protect your account information and financial transactions.

Further details on understanding apprenticeship benefits and funding can be found here, together with a cost estimator to see what funding can be available towards your apprentice’s training costs.

*There are 3 steps you must complete before registering for your gov.uk one login.

1. Register with HMRC and receive your PAYE number
2. Submit your first payroll data to HMRC, advising them of your intention to take on an apprentice
3. Wait 10 working days for the information to transfer from HMRC to the Department for Education

Only when all 3 actions have been completed can you register for an AS Account. Find out more about how to register and use the apprenticeship service as an employer.