Degree level nursing apprenticeships were first introduced in September 2017 in a bid to tackle the NHS staffing crisis as well as lift the numbers of healthcare apprentices working in the public sector.
Regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the level 6 programme involves part-time academic study at university, usually over four years, and offers an alternative, more flexible route into nursing.
And nursing degree apprentices earn while they learn, with the UK government providing up to £26,000 funding per year.
Back in 2017 just four universities offered the course, but in 2025 that number stands at 54, with the nursing degree apprenticeship available at higher education institutions right across the country, including the Open University.
More information on who offers the courses – and their achievement rates – can be found here.
Tackling the staffing crisis
As of May 2022, more than 6,000 students had enrolled on nursing degree apprenticeships, according to figures from Health Education England, now part of NHS England.
At that time, the figures represented a welcome boost to the NHS’s target of attracting 50,000 more registered nurses by 2024.
However, more still needs to be done, says the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). In its report to Congress in June 2024, the RCN – which represents more than half a million nurses, midwives, nursing support workers and students in the UK – said there was still a chronic shortage of registered nurses.
At their congress, members passed a resolution for the RCN Council to ‘lobby the UK Government for changes to improve the use of the apprentice levy to ensure it is fit for purpose for nursing and nursing associate programmes.’
The RCN’s report – last updated in November 2024 – states that despite measures to improve access into professional roles, there had been a 26% decrease in applications to three-year nursing degree programmes over the last two years and more than 43,000 nursing vacancies remained unfilled in England, including 10,000 in London.
And, it added, despite the bursary/financial support in both Scotland and Wales, the numbers are ‘not significant enough to fill the vacancies.’ Many support workers, it said, cannot afford to self-fund through university. Members agreed that the apprenticeship route could be more accessible if organisations were able to use levy funding more flexibly.
An alternative route into nursing
The nursing degree apprenticeship is designed to get more high-quality staff into the profession by providing an alternative pathway for people from diverse backgrounds. And, by training on the job while also studying part-time at university, apprentices don’t have to leave their jobs.
This route is aimed at NHS staff such as top healthcare assistants who’d like to take their careers further but don’t have the qualifications they need to do a nursing degree.
Nursing apprentices don’t require A levels to apply. They learn at work and gain a degree-level qualification at the end of their course.
Spending the apprenticeship levy
The NHS is now the nation’s biggest trainer of apprentices with around 25,000 learners enrolling on training programmes every year. Encouragingly, latest retention figures show that 90% of apprentices stay in the NHS when they qualify and go on to have successful and rewarding healthcare careers.
All NHS Trusts with an annual wage bill over £3 million, or around 120 staff are obliged to pay the apprenticeship levy. As the UK’s largest employer, the NHS contributes a massive £200 million to the apprenticeship levy every year.
This means that many trusts have been paying in and accruing large amounts in their levy pots. But not everyone is aware of this highly useful funding stream – and even those trusts who are, don’t always know how to make apprenticeships work best for them.
Some are sitting, unknowingly, on thousands of pounds’ worth of training budget – some of which could go into training nursing and healthcare staff to become registered nurses via the level 6 apprentice programme.
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