Sports Coaching Apprenticeships

What is a S4K apprenticeship?

Sports Coaching apprenticeships are available to individuals from the age of 16 years.  They tend to be offered as a 30 hour per week contract, although this can be extended to 40 hours either as overtime during busy seasons (e.g. holiday camps) or if regular service requires. Apprenticeships require individuals to study alongside being paid to work and applying their learnings. They typically have lessons once per week (held digitally) and have 6 hours per week of their time allocated to study (deducted from their contracted hours). Alongside their apprenticeship, they will also study for their S4K Coaching Badges via the S4K University and in person.

What apprenticeships are available?

Sport4Kids partner with Ignite Sport for the following apprenticeships currently:

• Level 2 Sports Assistant
• Level 3 Sports Teaching Assistant
• Level 3 Community and Sports Officer
• Level 4 Sports Coaching

In terms of the levels, they equate to the following:

• Level 2 = GCSE equivalent
• Level 3 = A Level equivalent
• Level 4 = First Year of Undergraduate / Higher National Certificate

How much do apprentices get paid?

The apprenticeship wage can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/become-apprentice/pay-and-conditions

To entice the best candidates for the position, we recommend not paying the minimum wage and instead opting for an uplift of 10-20%.

Is there any funding available?

At the time of writing (2023), employers receive £1000 for each apprentice hired between ages of 16-18 years.  The government review the funding that they give to employers each year for hiring apprentices so sometimes there is additional funding available too.  More information is available here: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/

Do we have to pay anything for apprentices?

Franchisees will have to cover the apprentice’s wage and 5% of the course fee.  The remaining 95% of the qualification fee is covered by the government.  There is also a way to apply for a Levy Transfer, where organisations that do not use all of their apprenticeship funding are able to transfer this to other employers who request it.  A qualification could cost £6000 to £9000 in total, so it is worth identifying areas where you can apply for the Levy Transfer. Once you have signed up for an apprenticeship account, you can log in to access and request Levy transfers: https://www.gov.uk/sign-in-apprenticeship-service-account

Materials and Assets:

Apprenticeship Information: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/

Apprenticeship Service Account: https://www.gov.uk/sign-in-apprenticeship-service-account

Apprenticeship Wages: https://www.gov.uk/become-apprentice/pay-and-conditions

S4K Network Partner Resources\People and Performance\Apprenticeships

S4K University:

S4K Apprenticeships