Level 3 Ambulance Support Worker Apprenticeship

We come to you

We deliver this apprenticeship at your premises. Your staff do not travel, you do not lose shifts to a classroom somewhere else, and training fits around your rota rather than ours.

We also have our training centre in Stockton-on-Tees and mobile delivery vehicles, if you would rather we ran a cohort elsewhere.

How the programme runs

• Structured taught sessions delivered on site by clinicians who have worked in the role
• Practical skills and scenario training using your own equipment and vehicles where possible, so the learning transfers directly
• Workplace assessment alongside your own staff
• Regular progress reviews with the apprentice, their line manager and their tutor

Cohort delivery

For larger intakes we run dedicated cohorts to a timetable agreed with you. If you are recruiting in blocks, tell us the numbers and dates and we will build the delivery plan around them.

What your apprentice will hold

This standard carries two mandatory qualifications, and the combination depends on the role they are being trained for.

One ambulance care qualification, from:

• Level 3 Diploma in Ambulance Emergency and Urgent Care Support
• Level 3 Certificate in Ambulance Patient Care: Urgent Care Services
• Level 3 Award in Ambulance Patient Care: Non-Urgent Care Services
• Level 3 Certificate in Ambulance Patient Care: Non-Urgent Care Services

One ambulance driving qualification, from:

• Level 3 Certificate in Emergency Response Ambulance Driving
• Level 3 Award in Patient Care Services: Ambulance Driving

Legacy IHCD driving awards are accepted where the apprentice can demonstrate current and relevant driving experience.

All apprentices also achieve the Care Certificate standards.

Assessment

This standard has a separate apprenticeship assessment, carried out by an assessment organisation independent of us. You choose which one. We will put the options in front of you, negotiate on price, and handle the arrangements and gateway. The standard is currently being revised under the 2025/26 assessment reforms; we will tell you if that changes anything for apprentices already on programme.

• Aged 21 or over
• A full GB driving licence for the class of vehicle being driven, held for 12 months or more, with no more than 6 penalty points
• Pass your organisation’s fitness test and interview
• Meet the 16 Care Certificate standards during the programme

A word on C1 entitlement

Anyone who passed their car driving test on or after 1 January 1997 does not automatically hold category C1, which most ambulances fall within because of their weight. C1 requires a separate DVLA test, a provisional entitlement and usually a D4 medical.

This catches employers out, particularly with younger recruits. It is worth checking at shortlisting rather than after appointment. We are happy to talk it through before you recruit.

English and maths

The rules changed on 11 February 2025 and many providers still describe the old ones.

Apprentices aged 19 and over no longer need to hold or achieve English and maths qualifications to pass their apprenticeship. If you want them to study toward level 2, we will support it and the government funds it, but it is optional and it is your decision.

Apprentices aged 16 to 18 must still hold or achieve level 2 English and maths. The government funds this and we deliver it.

Where English or maths is essential to a qualification built into the standard, it still has to be completed either way.

Why employers choose us

Choosing a training provider is a risk decision. The question is whether your apprentice finishes, and whether they finish well.

• 89% retention, against a sector target of 65%
• 47.8% achieve a distinction, against a national average of 29.3%
• 83.6% pass their assessment first time
• Rated Good in our most recent full Ofsted inspection, February 2024
• Over 10,000 people have begun their clinical career with us since 2008

Our clients include NHS ambulance trusts, private ambulance providers and the British Army.

What we do, and what you do

You provide the job, the hours and a workplace where your apprentice can practise. We do everything else.

• A named tutor for your apprentice and for you, not a call centre
• Enrolment and paperwork, including the apprenticeship service account setup if you do not have one
• Progress reviews with you, the apprentice and the tutor together, so you always know where they are
• Assessment arrangements, including gateway and liaison with the assessment organisation
• Safeguarding and wellbeing support, including 24/7 access to our learner safeguarding app

Employer access to Aptem

You get your own login to Aptem, the system we use to manage apprenticeships. You can see progress, off-the-job hours and review records whenever you want, rather than waiting for a report.

Delivery around your rota

We build the timetable with your education lead. If you run block recruitment, give us the numbers and dates and we will plan cohorts to match.

Training on your own kit

Where possible we use similar vehicles (yours or ours) and the same equipment, so skills transfer directly to the job rather than to a demonstration model.

Need to find an apprentice?

We can help. We will write and post your vacancy on the government’s apprenticeship service, promote it through our own channels, and pass on suitable applicants. You decide who to interview and who to appoint.

Posting a vacancy is fiddly the first time. If you would rather not, we will handle it.

Using your levy

The maximum government funding for this standard is £7,000, drawn from your apprenticeship service account. For a levy-paying employer, that is the whole cost of training and assessment. Two changes from 1 August 2026 affect how you plan: the 10% government top-up on new levy contributions has stopped, and new funds now expire after 12 months rather than 24. Funds already in your account before that date keep the old 24-month expiry. If your account is running an underspend, bringing cohorts forward is now worth more than it was.

Transferring unused levy

You can transfer up to 50% of your levy funds each year to other employers, covering their apprentices in full. For trusts working with partner organisations, private providers or community services, this is an underused way to spend funds that would otherwise expire.

If your funds are exhausted

Where your account has insufficient funds, the government funds 100% for apprentices aged 16 to 24, and 75% for those aged 25 and over, with you contributing 25%.

If you do not pay the levy

Smaller employers and private providers pay nothing at all for apprentices aged 16 to 24, and 5% for those aged 25 and over. A £2,000 hiring payment and a £1,000 additional payment may also apply.

No employer National Insurance

There is no employer National Insurance on eligible earnings for apprentices under 25. Funding rules change. These figures are correct as at October 2026 and we will tell you if anything affecting your apprentices changes.

The full 2026 rules, grants and what each of our nine apprenticeships costs are on one page.
Apprenticeship funding and grants 2026