How Much Are Apprenticeship Wages?

Many students decide to become apprentices when they realise that they will get paid by the company they are employed in. This can be seen as such a bonus, as apprentices are still learning on the job, so they get paid whilst acquiring new skills. This can be considered as more economically friendly than going to university, as students are not paid to go to university! However, it must be noted that there is variability in how much apprentices are paid.

The amount of money you receive as an apprentice depends on a number of different factors. For example, it depends on what company you are employed in, what level of apprenticeship you are doing and your age. Most apprentices are paid between £15,000 and £30,000 annually and the value you would be paid between these numbers depends on the factors previously outlined.

If you want to discover more about how much apprentices are paid and more importantly, how much you would be paid as an apprentice, check out the rest of this article!

What is the average apprenticeship wage?

As already mentioned, how much you will get paid as an apprentice depends on a number of factors. However, you will definitely get paid! After all, part of the job description of an apprenticeship is that you will get a salary.

You can discover more about getting paid as an apprenticeship if you check out this article from Think Student. Most apprentices are seen to be paid £15,000 to £30,000 per year according to this article from the Find Apprenticeships website.

There is a minimum wage that apprentices must be paid when they start their apprenticeship. The values for the minimum wage are discussed further along in this article.

However, many employers are likely to pay above the minimum wage in order to attract more apprentices. After all, apprentices are very valuable to companies!

It is difficult to give a definite answer for the average wage of an apprentice, as there are so many factors which must be taken into account, such as the level of apprenticeship that you are doing.

Regardless of how much money you get as an apprenticeship, you will still be getting a wage of some sort! Therefore, apprenticeships are extremely economical options if you decide to do higher education.

However, if you are struggling to decide whether you should do an apprenticeship or not, check out this article from Think Student to help with the decision-making process.

Does your wage as an apprentice depend on the level of apprenticeship you are doing?

An individual who is doing a level 6 apprenticeship is more likely to earn more than an individual who is doing a level 2 apprenticeship. After all, higher levels of apprenticeships can be seen as harder and require more work!

This article from the BBC highlights how the average wage for individuals doing a level 2 apprenticeship in 2021 was £8.23 per hour. In comparison, it was £15.11 per hour for individuals doing level 6 apprenticeships.

These figures are from 2021, so the minimum wages have increased since then. However, this just highlights that different level apprentices are likely to earn different wages. If you are unsure about what the different apprenticeship levels actually mean, check out this article from Think Student.

What is the minimum wage for an apprentice?

You can be guaranteed to be paid at least the national minimum wage as an apprentice for your age. For 16- to 18-year-olds, this is £5.28.

This minimum wage is also given to apprentices who are 19 or over but are only in their first year of the apprenticeship. These national minimum wages for apprentices are highlighted on this page from the government website.

However, if you are 19 years old or above and have completed the first year of your apprenticeship, you will then be entitled to receive the national minimum wage. This is instead of the national minimum wage for apprenticeships.

The national minimum wage is much higher than the apprenticeship payment! The minimum wage for 18–20-year-old apprentices after they have completed their first year is £7.49. The minimum wage for individuals aged between 21 and 22 years old is £10.18.

In comparison, if you are 23 years old or over, you will be able to get an hourly rate of £10.42. If you want to see these different values displayed more clearly, this article from UCAS has a helpful table.

After all, individuals can do apprenticeships at a range of different ages. You can discover more about which ages you can do an apprenticeship at if you check out this article from Think Student.

Therefore, as an apprentice, you will at least be paid the wages described above and never underneath this. If you do receive a wage underneath this, you may need to speak to your employer.

If you want to find out more information about the national minimum wage for apprentices and in general, check out this article from the government website.

How much are apprentices paid from different companies?

As already discussed, different companies pay their apprentices different amounts of money. As long as apprentices are paid at least the minimum wage, this could be anything!

There are many big companies in the UK who employ a large number of individuals for apprenticeships. These include the British Army, Barclays, BBC and Virgin Media. You can discover some more big apprentice employer names if you check out this page from the UK University Search website.

Alternatively, you could check out this article from Think Student to discover the most popular apprenticeship providers who are used by companies in the UK. If you decide to do an apprenticeship as a soldier in the British army, you could get up to £18,687 per year as shown on this page from the British Army website.

The British Army offers many different apprenticeships. Consequently, the amount of pay you receive differs depending on the type of apprenticeship that you do. In fact, if you decide to do an apprenticeship as an officer, you could earn up to £28,000 per year!

If you want to find out more about this and what other apprenticeships the British Army has available, check out this page from their website. Barclays is also a company which is popular for offering apprenticeships.

Examples of the pay Barclays offer for higher apprenticeships can be seen on this page from Indeed. Virgin Media offers apprentices a starting salary of at least £19,000 according to this article from the Virgin Media blog.

What are the highest paid apprenticeships in the UK?

When deciding what type of apprenticeship you want to apply for, it may be worth considering how much you would get paid. After all, different companies will pay their apprentices different salaries.

According to this article from the Skills Training Group website, banking apprenticeships seem to pay individuals the most amount of money! Luckily, there are many different banking companies in the UK which offer apprenticeships. For example, Santander, Lloyds banking and HSBC.

Doing an apprenticeship in IT would also lead to a very good wage. The number of apprenticeships available in IT are also very versatile. For example, there are IT consulting apprenticeships, software engineering apprenticeships and many more!

Accountancy apprenticeships are also normally very well paid. According to this article from Rate My Apprenticeship, the average salary for these apprenticeships when intermediate, advanced and higher level apprenticeships are all averaged together are quite high!

For banking apprenticeships, the average salary is shown to be £21,799. For accountancy apprenticeships, the average salary is shown to be £20,828 and for IT apprenticeships, the average salary is shown to be £19,211.

However, which industries provide the highest paid apprenticeships actually differ depending on which level of apprenticeship you are doing according to Rate My Apprenticeship, linked above. You can discover these differences if you keep on reading!

Which intermediate apprenticeships offer the highest paid salaries?

It turns out that banking apprenticeships still offer the highest wages when the apprenticeship is at an intermediate level, according to the same article by Rate My Apprenticeship. The average salary is seen as £16,825 per year! Intermediate apprenticeships in IT and engineering are also shown to have pretty high salaries.

Intermediate apprenticeships are also known as level 2 apprenticeships, which are equivalent to GCSE qualifications. The salaries for intermediate qualifications may seem quite low compared to other levels of apprenticeships.

However, this is just because they are equivalent to lower qualifications! Apprenticeships in law and FMCG are shown to pay the lowest wages to apprentices at this level.

Which advanced apprenticeships offer the highest paid salaries?

Advanced apprenticeships can also be known as level 3 apprenticeships and they are equivalent to two A-Level passes. This page from Rate My Apprenticeship, which is also linked above explains how apprenticeships in law at this level actually offer the highest wage! This wage is an average of £18,950.

This is followed by banking and accountancy. However, apprenticeships in health at an advanced level are shown to offer one of the lowest apprenticeship wages.

Which higher apprenticeships offer the highest paid salaries?

Higher apprenticeships are equivalent to levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 apprenticeships. However, level 6 and 7 apprenticeships can also be degree apprenticeships.

The Rate My Apprenticeship article claims that apprenticeships in law offer the most amount of money at this level. This is approximately £19,649 per year.

However, apprenticeships in IT are much lower at an advanced apprenticeship level! The average wage for IT apprenticeships at a higher level is approximately £16,097.

These different levels of apprenticeships can definitely become confusing. If you want to read a detailed overview about what an apprenticeship is, be able to understand all of the different levels and find answers to any other queries you may have, check out this article from Think Student.

How much are apprenticeships paid in different parts of the UK?

One of the factors that can affect how much you are paid as an apprentice is the location of your apprenticeship! If you do an apprenticeship in London and maybe some other big cities, you may receive a slightly higher wage as an apprentice.

This is because the cost of living in these areas is often quite higher than other places! The wages that apprentices receive as a result will help them get by in more expensive areas. This is outlined clearly in this article from UCAS.

Contrastingly, if you do an apprenticeship somewhere in the North East, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, you will most likely be paid a lower wage. Apprenticeships which are located in the West Midlands or Yorkshire and Humber normally offer wages between these two extremes.

Look at the following table to see examples of the average apprentice salary in different parts of the UK.

You can discover the exact average wages for apprenticeships these and other UK locations if you check out this article from the Rate My Apprenticeship website.

Can you get a pay rise as an apprentice?

As you will be new to your chosen industry as an apprentice, you are likely to be earning much less money than your colleagues who have been working at the company for many years. This can be disheartening and make you question whether you will ever get a pay rise.

You could just wait until you complete your apprenticeship to get a higher wage, or just wait until your next birthday! After all, the minimum wage increases when you get older, as already outlined earlier on.

It is possible however to get a pay rise before these two instances. However, getting a pay rise as an apprentice will mostly depend on you.

You need to make sure that you are working hard and emphasise how valuable you are to the company. Then it’s up to you to speak to your boss!

It may not be wise to ask for a pay rise immediately. However, if you feel that you have been working hard for a long time and believe that you deserve recognition for it, then go and talk to your employer! You can discover more information about this if you check out this article from the An Apprenticeship website.

Do you get paid for a degree apprenticeship?

Degree apprenticeships are similar to regular apprenticeships, in the sense that you will have to learn on the job and also do some studying on the side. However, after you have completed a degree apprenticeship, you will also have gained a full degree!

Consequently, many students believe that students who do degree apprenticeships aren’t paid. After all, all of their university tuition loans are paid for them by the company they are employed in. As a result, individuals who do degree apprenticeships are getting a degree for free!

However, the truth is that individuals who do degree apprentices still get paid by the company they are employed in! This is despite their degree also being paid for by them.

As you can see, this is a major pro of doing a degree apprenticeship. However, normal apprenticeships also have many pros – and some cons too! If you want to discover what these are, check out this article from Think Student.

How much do degree apprentices get paid?

Again, the amount of money you could receive from doing a degree apprenticeship differs for each individual, depending on how many skills they have, their age and what company they work for.

However, this article from Education Hub outlines how individuals who do degree apprenticeships could get at least £20,000 a year! As a result, degree apprenticeships are fantastic opportunities offered to students.

Just think about it! You get a degree free of charge, whilst being paid at the same time! However, it is true that they are very hard work. After all, you have to make sure that you are studying enough to get a degree whilst being a good employer.

If you want to discover more about degree apprenticeships and what they actually are, check out this article from Think Student.

How much do you get paid after completing an apprenticeship?

After you have finished your apprenticeship at a company and have received all of the necessary qualifications, hopefully you will be invited to stay on at that organisation! As you would have acquired the necessary skills and experience and hopefully gained the trust of your employers, you would be given a higher wage to reflect this.

The exact value of that wage cannot be stated in this article as there is so much variance! As previously discussed, the amount of money you will begin to earn after completing your apprenticeship depends on a number of factors, such as location, type of industry and level of apprenticeship you have completed.

Regardless, you are likely to be on a good wage, as apprentices are highly valued by employers. This is because as an apprentice, you would have gained experience specific to the company you are employed at.

Therefore, becoming an apprentice is a great choice to make! If you are struggling to find an apprenticeship employer, check out this article from Think Student for some tips.

*Please note that the information within this article is true to 2023 and may slightly change by time of reading.