Amazon will have supported the creation of more than 750 apprenticeships outside of Amazon in over 250 small and medium-sized organisations across England by next year, as part of an £8 million investment since launching its Apprenticeship Fund in 2021.
In the next twelve months, Amazon will fund over 300 new apprenticeship roles in small businesses and organisations selling on Amazon, Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers, creative industry partners and local authorities through the company’s apprenticeship levy. These will cover a wide range of jobs, from Digital Marketing to Visual Effects Artists, Cyber Security specialists, and more. Lasting between 12-48 months, and covering apprenticeship standards up to £27,000, apprentices will receive a mix of on-the-job and classroom training.
Apprenticeships play an important role in securing a talent pipeline for the future, providing hands-on experience and an alternative entry-point to the workforce. Amazon has successfully delivered its own apprenticeship programme for more than 10 years, and has been recognised as one of the largest and most diverse programmes in England by Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers.
In the past five years, Amazon has onboarded more than 3,000 apprentices, with three quarters completing their respective schemes, well above the national retention average (51%). Nearly 9 in 10 (86%) of apprentices who were on a scheme at Amazon have gone on to take a permanent role at the company after completing their programme.
The Amazon Apprenticeship Fund will invest in:
- AWS customers and small businesses who sell on Amazon with IT technical apprenticeship roles, such as DevOps and IT Solutions, as well as marketing and retail apprenticeship schemes to help boost productivity, exports, and cloud computing skills.
- Creative industry partners to find and train the next generation of creative professionals. Amazon Music is currently working with AIM and Women in CTRL; Prime Video works with multiple independent production companies in the UK across Original series including All or Nothing: Arsenal, The Rig and Devil’s Hour – and will continue its work with UK Screen Alliance, Screen Skills and the Department for Education to fund apprentice roles in production, technical operations and other areas.
- Local authorities and regional government partners like the West Midlands Combined Authority, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and London Progress Coalition are using the funds to address local skills gaps in areas like advanced manufacturing, social care and construction.
John Boumphrey, UK country manager, Amazon, said: “We are proud of the positive impact the Amazon Apprenticeship Fund has created for apprentices, companies and communities across England. When we launched in 2021, we made a commitment to support around 250 new apprenticeships through the fund, but we’ve been inspired by the success of the programme to date, and expect to create around three times that number by this time next year.
“It means people across the country have been given a head-start in their career, or transferred into a new career with the right support and opportunities. As we expand, we hope other larger employers will also choose to transfer some of their unspent levy to create more valuable apprenticeship roles for people across England to gain new skills, supporting productivity and innovation.”
Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, Robert Halfon said: “Thanks to Amazon’s continued investment in apprenticeships, over 450 apprenticeship roles in partner organisations have been created in the past two years alone. This is a fantastic example of how transformative the apprenticeship levy can be, allowing other businesses and SMEs across a range of in-demand sectors like manufacturing and social care to employ people with the specific skills their businesses need.
“The fund will also support Prime Video and Screen Skills’ work in providing flexi-job apprenticeships to talented individuals working on fantastic productions like Rings of Power. Extending the ladder of opportunity to people from all backgrounds and stages of their career is exactly how we will build a skills and apprenticeships nation, and I would encourage all large employers to follow their lead.”
Amazon also has a track record of investing in skills, working to remove barriers and to create opportunities and career pathways for people from all backgrounds. The company was recently ranked in second place on LinkedIn’s list of Top Companies, citing skills training and opportunities for growth as key differentiators. Earlier this year, Sohil Ambelal Patel in the UK became the 100,000th participant in Amazon’s Career Choice, a programme which provides operations employees with funding for adult education, offering to pre-pay 95% of tuition and associated fees for nationally recognised courses, up to £8,000 over four years. Courses available range from accountancy to HGV drivers and software developers.
Children’s charity Barnardo’s and Amazon recently launched their JOBS (Journey of Becoming Successful) Project which will support 500 young people, many of whom are care experienced, develop the skills needed to secure work and develop their careers. Amazon also supports students, teachers and parents with free computer science & STEM education programmes. Since launching in 2019, Amazon Future Engineer has reached over 400,000 students across the UK. The Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme is open to women students from low-income households, who plan to study computer science or related engineering courses at university, to get financial and mentoring support to build their future careers in STEM. AWS GetIT is available in the UK to help students consider a future career in tech, and has trained 19,000 students in eight countries.
