Applying to deliver an apprenticeship route
If you're thinking about applying to deliver an apprenticeship route for one of our approved programmes, read our guidance below.
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Before you apply
Before applying to register with the NMC as a training provider for nurses, midwives and nursing associates, you will need to be approved by us, since we approve education and training programmes for nurses, midwives and nursing associates before and after NMC registration.
Know which apprenticeship standards are available
There is already an apprenticeship standard in England for nursing associates that meets the Higher Education England (HEE) curriculum requirements.
The Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) is in the process of developing a standard that meets those for our new nursing associates .
Apprenticeship standards for specialist community public health nursing and district nursing are being developed by employers and the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA). Once they are, these will be mapped to our existing standards in due course.
Read these key resources
- Our approach to quality assurance (QA) is outlined in our Quality Assurance Framework.
- Find more detailed information on running a nursing degree apprenticeship.
Get ready to gain NMC approval to run a training programme
1. You’ll need to work with an employer or employers to develop an apprenticeship route to the relevant NMC programme.
2. Before notifying us of your intention to run an apprenticeship programme an agreement must be in place with the employer partner(s) participating in the proposed apprenticeship pathway and you both must have developed the degree apprenticeship pathway for apprentices employed by that health and /or care provider. This is also requirement of the Institute for Apprenticeships.
3. As part of our process of quality assurance, we’ll ask for representatives from any employer partners you work with, to be present when we visit your education institution (Gateway 4). In some circumstances we may also visit the practice placements you’ve outlined in the programme proposal.
4. You will need to meet the requirements of the Institute of Apprenticeships.
5. Education institutions must be on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) in order to deliver an apprenticeship route. Organisations listed on the RoATP go through an application process with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), which considers an applying organisation’s due diligence, capability, quality and financial health to assess their capability to deliver high-quality apprenticeship training.
What happens if you do not currently run any NMC approved courses?
A programme cannot run until our approval process has confirmed that our standards have been met.
First you’ll need to submit your proposal to us. Read about the process and our requirements.
Once these have been reviewed and we’re satisfied that you can proceed, we’ll pass your information to our QA delivery partner, Mott MacDonald who’ll move you through our QA gateway process.
What happens if you're already approved by us to run other programmes?
If you're currently approved to deliver an NMC programme and want to add an apprenticeship route, you'll need to submit a modification request. This should be sent to our quality assurance service provider, Mott MacDonald, through the QA Link and submit a request to deliver your approved programme via a degree apprenticeship route.
