About the Technical Apprenticeship Consortium

The Technical Apprenticeship Consortium is a group of mainly engineering consultancy practices that have come together to develop and deliver Apprenticeships in relevant engineering disciplines.  

In March 2010, Mott MacDonald was instrumental in establishing a consortium of 6 of the largest UK engineering consultancy practices to plan and deliver an Advanced Technician Apprenticeship in Civil Engineering.  Other founding members were Arup, Capita, Halcrow, Hyder and WSP. The impetus was a requirement of the TfL Engineering and Project Management Framework that companies had to accept the GLA Strategic Labour Needs and Training commitment which included a target for recruiting apprentices. The Consortium of employers and providers have since gone on to develop several other qualifications at Advanced and Degree Apprenticeship levels.  

 

Background and Purpose

The purpose of the Technical Apprenticeship Consortium is to;

  • Bring together engineering consultancy firms to enable them to meet their business needs through the recruitment and training of technician apprentices
  • Ensure that there is a valued work based route to professional status for aspiring engineers including those who are currently under-represented within the sector such as females, ethnic minorities, the disabled and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
  • Increase the numbers of people taking up this route and the number of companies appreciating the benefits it brings and so committing to providing apprenticeship places
  • Broaden the availability across a range of engineering disciplines through using the common base of the Engineering Council UK-SPEC to compile a suite of linked qualifications working with sector skills councils, professional institutions and awarding bodies.  
Over a Eight year period the consortium has grown and flourished.  Highlights include;
  • The employer led consortium approach replicated at several locations across the UK.  The original group of companies recruited 8 apprentices in September 2010. This year September 2017, 19 companies have started in excess of 500 Apprentices including starts on Level 6 Degree Apprenticeships.  There were a large number of applications for the available posts requiring a minimum of 5 GCSEs Grades including Maths, English and a Science subject or the equivalent.
  • Over 15 providers who are members of a network.  A Service Level Agreement in place which sets out the roles and responsibilities of the? providers, companies and professional institutions.
  • In December 2010, the consortium won the Mayor of London’s Responsible Procurement Skills and Employment Award in recognition of the innovative and employer led nature of the programme and in December 2011, the consortium won the Training Journal Apprenticeship Programme of the Year Award against some stiff competition from across all business sectors.

How it works

Currently the consortium operates at two levels.  

A National Group

which is responsible for; 
  • setting policy and objectives 
  • setting direction 
  • setting priorities 
  • approving an annual business plan
  • approving changes in governance 
To join the National Group a company agrees to pay an annual subscription.The consortium manages its day to day affairs through a Management Group which meets on a quarterly basis to; 
  • Action and monitor against the agreed annual business plan
  • Manage financial income and expenditure
  • Provide recommendations for action to Company Members 

Regional Groups  

Strong regional groups have been established in London, North, Midlands and South West of England.  Plans are in place to develop similar groups in the devolved nations.  Contact details for each of the regional providers can be found in the provider section

These are linked to providers delivering the Apprenticeships. the role of the Regional Groups is to:

  • Monitor and support the providers in the delivery of the apprenticeships
  • Influence providers curriculum delivery and assessment model.
  • Collaborate in the recruitment of talented young people.
  • Share good practice and resolve issues that may arise.

To join at either national or regional level a company must have committed to the recruitment of at least one Engineering Apprentice. The consortium offers benefits to companies of any size from the very small through to large global businesses. Please contact us for more details.