Consultation outcome

Public health apprenticeships: community-centred roles

From:: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
Published: 11 September 2019
Last updated: 8 August 2023 — See all updates

Detail of outcome

There was agreement from employers and front-line workers to develop an apprenticeship standard to support the training and development of this workforce.

The feedback received was used to inform the development of an occupational proposal for a level 3 apprenticeship for community-centred roles. This proposal was approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education in 2020 for the development of the Level 3 Community Health and Wellbeing Worker apprenticeship standard.

Details of the standard are published on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s website.

Detail of feedback received

We received a total of 43 responses from a range of employers of community-centred roles and 28 responses from front line workers.

Responses from employers were spread across England and included:

local authorities
NHS trusts
professional bodies
general practice
voluntary organisations

Original consultation

Consultation description

In March 2019, Public Health England convened a workshop to explore the employer demand for an advanced level apprenticeship (level 3, see academic levels) for community-centred roles (such as social prescribers, link workers, community connectors, health trainers, and other similar roles).

The event was attended by more than 60 representatives from local authorities, clinical commissioning groups, charities, social enterprises, NHS providers and Health Education England.

There was broad support for continuing to scope an apprenticeship standard, to reflect both the interests of employers and the clear direction of travel in government policy around health, care and other public service areas. Details are available in the workshop report.

One of the recommendations from this workshop was to connect with employers and front-line workers to better understand the duties, capabilities and current training opportunities for this workforce that will shape the apprenticeship standard.

This consultation aims to:

better understand and articulate the duties and capabilities of people in community-centred roles
determine how these workers are currently being trained and developed to discharge these duties
establish the extent of employer need and commitment to an apprenticeship standard at level 3 for this workforce

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected].

Notes:

the Public Health England team leading this policy transitioned into the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities on 1 October 2021
Health Education England merged with NHS on 1 April 2023

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