Grow your own finance team: why accountancy apprenticeships make business sense

Every finance leader knows the feeling: the right person is hard to find, harder to keep, and expensive to bring in at the level you need. Accountancy apprenticeships offer a different route. Instead of competing for experienced hires, you recruit motivated people at the start of their careers and train them with the help of your training provider partner in the way that works for your business.

And apprenticeships are not only for new recruits: they are just as effective for developing the people you already have.

At Gloucestershire College, we are enrolling for our January cohorts now. Whether you are recruiting or developing your existing team, this is an opportunity to build the accountancy skills your business needs for the year ahead.

A strong pool of candidates

With increased demand for apprenticeships, the quality of candidates coming through to us is excellent. These are usually people at the start of their careers: keen, adaptable and ready to learn. Many have chosen accountancy deliberately, and they arrive wanting a genuine career rather than just a job.

For employers, that means a chance to shape good habits from day one. Your apprentice learns your systems, your standards and your culture while studying, and the knowledge they gain on the job is put to use immediately.

Build skills around your business

An apprenticeship gives you the opportunity to develop someone who understands your systems, your standards and your culture from the outset.

Your apprentice combines structured accountancy training with practical workplace experience, applying what they learn to relevant tasks as their skills grow. You provide the role, supervision and opportunities to learn on the job; Gloucestershire College provides the training and support to help them develop.

For your business, it is a chance to build capability from within and give a developing finance professional a clear place in your team.

Give your existing employees a route forward

Your next skilled finance professional may already work for you.

If you have a bookkeeper, finance assistant or administrator with potential, an accountancy apprenticeship could help them gain recognised qualifications while continuing to contribute to your business.

You retain their knowledge of your clients and systems while helping them develop the technical skills to take on more responsibility. It is a practical way to address a skills gap and show employees that there is room to grow within your organisation.

A pathway that goes somewhere

Gloucestershire College offers accountancy apprenticeship routes from Level 2 to Level 4, incorporating AAT qualifications.

Someone starting with core finance and bookkeeping tasks can build towards more advanced accounting responsibilities, with a development pathway that supports their ambitions and your business needs.

Accountancy apprenticeships at Gloucestershire College

• Level 2 Finance/Accounts Assistant — develop core finance and accounting skills.

• Level 3 Assistant Accountant — build technical knowledge and support a wider range of accounting tasks.

• Level 4 Professional Accounting Technician — develop more advanced skills for greater responsibility.

The right starting point and any progression depend on the employee’s role, experience, prior learning and eligibility. Our employer team can help you explore the most suitable route.

The funding: what employers need to know

Cost is often the first question, and there may be more support available than you expect. Funding depends on your business, the apprentice and when their training starts.

For eligible January 2027 starts in England:

• Training and assessment funding: non-levy employers can receive full funding, up to the funding band maximum, for eligible apprentices aged 16 to 24 at the start of training.

• £2,000 hiring payment: eligible non-levy employers recruiting a new apprentice aged 16 to 24 may receive this payment. The employee must have joined no more than 90 days before their apprenticeship training begins. The training provider passes on the payment in two instalments, subject to the relevant conditions.

• Additional £1,000 payment: further employer support may be available for apprentices aged 16 to 18, or aged 19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan or qualifying care experience.

• Employer National Insurance relief: qualifying apprentices under 25 attract a zero rate of employer Class 1 National Insurance on earnings up to the Apprentice Upper Secondary Threshold.

Some support can be combined where the eligibility conditions are met. Employers remain responsible for wages, paid training time, supervision and other employment costs, as well as any agreed training costs above the funding band maximum.

Different funding arrangements apply to other apprentices and levy-paying employers. Our team can help you understand the support available for your circumstances before you make a decision.

Start planning for January

Whether you want to recruit new talent or develop someone already in your team, we can help you take the next step.

Our employer team can explore the right programme with you, check funding eligibility and discuss support with recruitment and onboarding.

Build the accountancy skills your business needs.

Or email employer.training@gloscol.ac.uk.

Funding information checked on 26 October 2026. Funding and payments are subject to eligibility and current government rules.