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Your guide to apprenticeships in London in 2024
The beating heart of the UK, London is a colourful, vibrant, international city. It’s also home to over 5.5 million jobs!
As a thriving metropolis, opportunities are available in pretty much every area of work imaginable. And at the time of writing, there are over 1,100 apprenticeship programmes available within 20 miles of central London.
In this guide, we give you the lowdown on London’s main industries and job market, as well as the main employers offering apprenticeships in London.
What are London’s main industries?
The government data is broken into Inner London and Outer London. The top three industries in Inner London are:
- Professional, scientific and technical
- Administrative and support services
- Financial and insurance
In Outer London, the top three industries are:
- Wholesale and retail
- Healthcare and social work
- Administrative and support services
Here’s a breakdown of those industries:
Administrative and support services – About one in 10 people in London work in this industry, although a slightly higher proportion are based in Outer London. Roles involve secretarial work, data entry and customer service roles.
Career Zone links: Administrative & Clerical
Financial and insurance – The City of London is a major international finance hub, pushing the proportion of Inner London’s workforce in this field up to 9.6%, compared to 6.7% for London as a whole and just 3.3% for the nation. Specialisms include investment banking as well as roles in other areas of financial services.
Career Zone links: Banking & Finance, Insurance & Pensions
Healthcare and social work – This is a major industry across the UK, with most jobs in public sector organisations such as the NHS and local authorities, as well as some in private care agencies. In London, just over 10% of people work in this area, less than the nationwide average of 13.5%. There are more healthcare and social work jobs in Outer than in Inner London.
Career Zone links: Medicine & Healthcare, Social Care
Professional, scientific and technical – 14.4% of the population is employed in these areas of work, compared with 9.1% nationwide. Jobs are concentrated in Inner London, where almost one in five people work in this field. This group includes managers and those working in STEM professions such as engineering and computing.
Career Zone links: IT & The Internet, Science & Research
Wholesale and retail – This includes people working in customer-facing and behind-the-scenes roles in shops as well as those working in warehouses. In London, about 11% of people work in these professions.
Career Zone links: Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Retail & Merchandising, Transport & Logistics
Employers who offer apprenticeships in London
Loads of major employers offer apprenticeships in London, so we’ve broken them down into a few key industries.
IT
Amazon: Amazon is a world-famous online retailer, which also offers streaming services like Prime Video as well web services for companies. Amazon’s apprenticeships in London include data analyst, solutions architect, software development engineer, cyber security and dev ops.
BT: BT is a major telecoms company, providing phone and internet services across the UK. IT apprenticeships in London include roles such as product manager, digital business analyst and content editor.
IBM: IBM is the world’s largest IT company – they’ve been around for over a century and helped build the technology which put a human on the Moon. They offer a range of IT apprenticeships in London, in IT but also accountancy and management roles.
Media
BBC: The British Broadcasting Corporation is the UK’s main public service broadcaster, producing programmes for TV, radio and streaming on iPlayer. The BBC offers apprenticeships in London at levels 3 to 7 in roles such as broadcast and media systems technical operator, journalist and producer.
Channel 4: Channel 4 is a publicly owned TV channel, offering apprenticeships from level 2 up to level 6. Famous programmes include It’s A Sin, Peep Show and of course Big Brother. Apprenticeship roles in London include talent and product marketing.
ITV: ITV is the UK’s largest commercial TV broadcaster. It has been operating since 1955 and over the years has been home to the likes of Downton Abbey, Poirot, Midsomer Murders and Corrie. Apprenticeships are available in their studios teams as well as other departments – they are typically launched in January.
Warner Bros Discovery: Warner Bros Discovery is a global media and entertainment company, which has produced films and series such as Barbie, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. In London, apprenticeships are available at level 3 and 4, in creative roles as well as sales, human resources, finance and marketing.
Public sector
Civil Service: The Civil Service are the permanent staff of the departments which make up the Government. They provide technical advice and administrative support to elected politicians. Civil Service apprenticeships in London are available from levels 2 to 7 and you can choose from a range of departments, with specialisms including cyber security, digital, finance, operational delivery, and science and engineering.
Local government: Local government refers to the wing of government carried out locally by bodies such as city, borough and district councils. Services they provide include roads, bins, schools and libraries. Many local authorities in London offer apprenticeship programmes across a range of service areas. For example, at the time of writing, Islington Council is offering a level 3 teaching assistant apprenticeship and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is advertising a level 4 internal audit programme.
National Audit Office: The NAO makes sure public money is being spent responsibly. Accountancy apprenticeships at the NAO lead to the prestigious ACA accounting qualification and a salary of £58,000 upon completion.
NHS: The NHS offers apprenticeships in medical as well as non-medical support roles. Programmes range from levels 2 all the way up to level 7, with roles in medicine, HR, pharmacology and business services. Employers in London include NHS North East London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust.
Transport for London (TfL): TfL runs London’s buses, trams and underground network, and is a big apprenticeship provider in London. Areas include business, engineering, technology, rail and underground. Example programmes include level 3 track renewal, level 3 engineering vehicles, level 4 software development and level 6 sustainability.
Professional services
The ‘Big Four’ professional services firms – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – offer accountancy, audit, legal and other business services to clients in the private and public sectors. All four firms offer school/college leaver programmes and/or apprenticeships in London. These cover core services as well as support services, with schemes including:
- Deloitte: Level 7 tax
- EY: Level 7 accountancy and taxation
- KPMG: Level 7 audit
- PwC: Level 4 junior management consulting
The overall jobs picture in London
London is home to nearly 9 million residents – making it bigger than Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol put together! It is a young city, with over half the population under the age of 60. Although it is home to around 15% of the English population, the capital city punches above its weight economically – representing 26.8% of England’s economy. The average salary is £44,370.
Living in London
London is known – or maybe infamous! – for being an expensive place to live. The average cost of renting a room is over £750 per month (September 2023), with prices increasing the more central you get. Overall, average rent is £1,873 – £879 more than the average for England. Rents grew by £201 between September 2022 and September 2023.
Public transport is cheap and reliable by British standards, thanks to the publicly owned operator Transport for London (TfL). On buses and trams, the £1.75 Hopper fare gives you unlimited travel within one hour of tapping in. Apprentices are entitled to a daily cap of £5.25 and a weekly cap of £17.30 with an Apprentice Oyster photocard. Annual costs are capped at £692.
London is famous for the Tube, its underground rail network. London is divided up into nine zones, with Zone 1 being the most central. With an Apprentice Oyster photocard, you won’t pay more than £12.30 per day travelling within Zones 1-4 and you won’t pay more than £1,716 per year travelling within Zones 1-4. Travel within Zones 1-9 is capped at £3,112 per year. Since the pricing is a bit complicated, have a look at this TfL PDF.
According to What Uni, you could pay up to £7.50 for a pint of beer in London. Eating out costs around £15 per person, while entry to a nightclub typically costs £10-15 – although you could be charged as little as £5 or as much as £50!
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