Apprenticeships

Develop Your Workforce Through Apprenticeships with WAES

If your organisation—particularly within the cultural, creative or heritage sectors—is looking to bring in new talent or upskill existing staff, apprenticeships delivered by Westminster Adult Education Service (WAES) can offer a practical and cost‑effective solution.

Apprenticeships combine paid employment with structured, high‑quality training. Your apprentice will work in your organisation while spending at least 20% of their paid hours completing off-the-job training, following a blended learning model that leads to a nationally recognised qualification.

Find out about becoming an apprentice and view current vacancies

How WAES supports employers

We work closely with employers of all sizes across Westminster, London and beyond to support:

Recruiting new apprentices
Upskilling or re‑skilling existing staff
Workforce planning within the cultural and heritage sectors
Ongoing support throughout the apprenticeship programme

Our dedicated team can help you write job descriptions, advertise vacancies, screen candidates and provide guidance throughout the apprentice’s training journey.

“Working with WAES has been a real pleasure. They support several of our apprentices, with more joining this year. Two apprentices—on the Cultural Learning Participation Officer and Museums and Galleries Technician standards—recently completed their End Point Assessments and, with WAES tutorage and support, both achieved Distinction. Our apprentices are growing in confidence and developing strong sector understanding, supported by WAES’s genuine commitment to heritage and learning and the opportunities they offer to visit cultural sites as a cohort.”

Dave Jones

Early Careers Manager, Historic Royal Palaces

“Working with Westminster Adult Education Service has been an enriching and seamless experience.
Their guidance has strongly supported me in delivering the Library, Information and Archive Services apprenticeship at the BFI Reuben Library and National Archive. Our apprentices bring immense value to our teams and to the BFI as a whole.”

Katie Reddington

Senior Librarian, British Film Institute

“The University of West London Library Service has worked with WAES since 2022 to employ apprentice Library Services Assistants through the Level 3 LIAS programme. Three apprentices have now completed the programme and all secured permanent roles with us with progression opportunities. Their experiences, skills and knowledge, alongside what they have developed during the apprenticeship, mean they make meaningful contributions to improving our service and add value to the support we provide to students, academics and researchers. We see the Level 3 apprenticeship as essential for our Library Service Assistant roles and as a pathway for progression, and we look forward to working with WAES for many years to come.”

Julian Roland

Head of Library Service Delivery, University of West London

“Our experience of working with WAES has been consistently positive and genuinely collaborative.
From the outset, the WAES team has worked with us to understand our business needs to develop the skills required in our workplace. WAES are approachable and their training is well-structured, giving our apprentices a strong foundation to grow within their roles.”

Bonita Hopkins

Learning and Development Manager, Imperial War Museums

Funding and employer contributions

Apprenticeships are more affordable than many employers expect.

Employers subject to the Growth and Skills Levy can use their levy funds to cover the full training cost.
For small and medium enterprises not subject to the levy, the Government will now cover 100% of training costs for apprentices under the age of 25. For apprentices over the age of 25, the Government will cover 95% of the delivery costs and the employer will be responsible for the remaining 5%. They may also be able to access levy transfers from larger organisations to cover up to 100% of training costs.

Why partner with WAES?

WAES offers a growing range of apprenticeship programmes tailored to cultural, creative or heritage sector employers. With many years of experience preparing apprentices for successful assessment across a range of industries, we consistently receive Good or Excellent feedback from employer partners on the Government’s Apprenticeship Service.

If you’d like to explore how an apprentice could support your organisation, please email apprenticeships@waes.ac.uk