Learn about our Apprenticeship Programmes

A Foundation Apprenticeship is a paid, entry-level job with structured Level 2 training. It combines workplace experience with technical knowledge and skills, helping a young person build occupational confidence, develop work readiness, and progress into employment, further training, or a more specialised apprenticeship. 

Foundation Apprenticeships are available to young people aged 16 to 21. They may also be available to people aged 22 to 24 who meet specified eligibility criteria, including certain care leavers, prisoners or prison leavers, and people with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Employers and training providers should confirm eligibility against the current apprenticeship funding rules. 

A Foundation Apprenticeship has a minimum duration of eight months. The exact programme length should reflect the apprentice’s starting point, support needs and the requirements of the relevant standard. 

The apprentice develops technical knowledge and skills drawn from a group of related occupations, alongside workplace experience and employability skills and behaviours. The relevant Foundation Apprenticeship standard sets out the full content and likely progression routes. 

Successful completion confirms the achievement of the technical knowledge and skills, and the required employability skills and behaviours at the level of the standard. The aim is to support progression into employment, further study or a more specialised Level 2 or Level 3 apprenticeship.

Each Foundation Apprenticeship requires assessment of the specified assessment outcomes. The assessment design includes a knowledge assessment and a practical assessment, although the practical assessment may take different forms. BIIAB will publish an assessment specification explaining the methods, evidence requirements and pass standard for each Foundation Apprenticeship it offers.

Assessment can take place at appropriate points or milestones during the programme. It does not need to be left until the end. The timing should support learning and progression and avoid unnecessary delay once the apprentice is ready.

The practical assessment must allow the apprentice to apply the knowledge and skills developed during training. Depending on the standard, this could include workplace observation, a practical task, a simulated activity, assessment of materials produced during training, a project, presentation or portfolio of evidence. 

BIIAB  sets the Foundation Apprenticeship assessments it offers. The access-to-work knowledge assessment must be set and marked by the assessment organisation. Other technical assessments may be marked by BIIAB or by an approved centre where the assessment design permits this. BIIAB remains responsible for the validity, reliability and accuracy of the final result. 

Yes. Where available for the standard, BIIAB can deliver and mark all required assessment components. This option is suitable for providers and employers that prefer the assessment organisation to manage the full assessment process.

Where the BIIAB assessment design permits centre assessment, an approved centre may deliver, mark or make assessment judgements for specified technical assessment components. The assessment specification will make clear which components may be centre-assessed and which must be assessed directly by Skills and Education Group Awards. 

The organisation must complete Centre Recognition and then the relevant standard-specific Apprenticeship Assessment Approval. This includes checks on governance, policies, resources, assessment and IQA arrangements, staff competence, conflicts of interest, record-keeping and readiness for Skills and Education Group Awards monitoring and quality assurance. 

Centre assessors and IQAs must meet the occupational, assessment and quality assurance requirements specified by Skills and Education Group Awards. They must be approved for the relevant standard, complete required training and induction standardisation, maintain suitable continuing professional development and follow the assessment and record-keeping requirements.

BIIAB applies a risk-based CASS approach. This may include sampling apprentice evidence and assessment decisions, reviewing IQA records, observing assessment or marking, monitoring centre practice, analysing outcomes and requiring corrective action. Centre-assessed outcomes are not final until the required scrutiny and completion checks have been completed. 

Employability skills and behaviours are developed throughout the Foundation Apprenticeship and are not normally assessed through the formal knowledge and practical assessments. The employer confirms that the apprentice has suitably demonstrated the required employability skills and behaviours before the Foundation Apprenticeship is awarded, except where the relevant assessment plan states otherwise. 

Assessment may take place in the workplace, at the training provider or approved centre, remotely or through an online assessment system, depending on the method. The location must allow the apprentice to demonstrate the required knowledge and skills under appropriate and secure assessment conditions. 

BIIAB provides assessment specifications, apprentice and provider guidance, assessment requirements, and guidance for training and standardisation. Our apprenticeship team and Relationship Managers can also support organisations with available standards, registration, assessment planning, service options, centre approval and operational questions. 

Yes. Reasonable adjustments may be available where an apprentice has a disability or other assessment need. Requests must be made in line with the BIIAB Reasonable Adjustments Policy. Adjustments should remove unnecessary barriers while preserving the knowledge and skills the assessment is intended to measure. 

Foundation Apprenticeships are funded through the apprenticeship system, subject to the current eligibility and funding rules and the funding band for the standard. BIIAB assessment fees vary by standard and service option. Please contact our team for current pricing and to confirm what is included. 

The BIIAB assessment specification will explain the reassessment arrangements for the standard. The apprentice, employer and training provider will be told which assessment activity must be repeated, whether further learning or practice is needed and whether an additional fee applies. 

BIIAB will confirm completion once the required technical assessments have been achieved, the employer has confirmed the required employability skills and behaviours, and all quality assurance and completion checks have been satisfied. The result will then be recorded and certification initiated through the applicable government process. 

Please contact the BIIAB apprenticeship team. We will be happy to discuss available Foundation Apprenticeships, funding and fees, registration, assessment arrangements, service options or centre approval.

Call 0115 854 1620 or email customersupport@skillsedugroup.co.uk. 

Apprenticeship standards all have a requirement for end-point assessment (EPA). An EPA is the name given to a series of assessments an apprentice must complete to prove their ability to do the job they have been training for. These assessments take place at the end of the apprenticeship. EPA must be provided by an approved End-Point Assessment Organisation.

Assessments are carried out in accordance with an assessment plan which supports the apprenticeship standard.

Find out more about the Register of End-Point Assessment Organisations here.

An independent end-point assessor (IEPA) is a specialist who is sub-contracted to carry out the end-point assessment on behalf of BIIAB. All of our IEPAs have the required occupational experience to undertake the role and are trained in carrying out assessments.

Please get in touch with us if you are interested in the role, and we can check whether your previous experience meets the requirements of the standard(s) you are interested in.

No this isn’t a problem; in fact, our assessors are required to keep up to date with their knowledge and expertise, so this can be a bonus. You can undertake the role on a flexible, part-time basis.

Please check our vacancies page for an up-to-date list of end-point assessor vacancies.

BIIAB is currently recruiting IEPAs to our professional register against the person specifications and requirements for each standard and assessment plan. We are already canvassing our network to identify and encourage experienced, occupationally competent and knowledgeable people to join.

Yes, providing they meet the requirements of the respective apprenticeship standard and assessment plan, our existing contacts may become end-point assessors. In many cases, they may play a quality assuring role as a senior end-point assessor (SEPA), monitoring, quality-assuring and standardising the assessor’s assessments.