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Supporting your apprenticeship delivery

Apprenticeship Support Hub

Guidance and resources for training providers and colleges delivering apprenticeships

At City & Guilds, we are here to support you with your apprenticeship delivery at every stage of the journey. Our wealth of resources and dedicated teams are on hand to guide you, your teams, and your learners to success.

In this Apprenticeship Support Hub, you will find key information you need for a smoother delivery, including resources and advice for:

Securing apprenticeship success

Best practice for delivering apprenticeships

Proactive planning from the very beginning can help ensure a smooth programme and improve apprenticeship completion rates:

  • Familiarise yourself with the standard(s) that you are delivering.
  • Equip yourself and your teams to support your apprentices at all stages of the journey.
  • Ensure you create a detailed training plan, including requirements for pre-determined knowledge, skills and behavious (KSBs), other mandatory qualifications, and reasonable adjustments.

Discover the best resources to support you at this stage >

On-programme learning will make up most of your apprentices' journey. Apprentices will need to develop the relevant knowledge, skills, and behaviours (KSBs) for their standard, alongside any other mandatory training requirements and soft skills.

Help to keep your apprentice on track by scheduling regular, well-structured progress check-ins and touchpoints to discuss any challenges they may be facing, their wellbeing and welfare and tangible next steps.

Discover the best resources to support you at this stage >

Prepare your apprentice for the final milestone of their apprenticeship journey: gateway and end-Point assessment (EPA).

  • Ensure you are familiar with the EPA handbooks as it outlines gateway requirements for each standard.
  • Establish clear responsibilities so that everyone is aware of what’s happening at each stage of the EPA, from uploading evidence to booking assessment dates.

Speak to our EPA Partnership managers to help you plan and deliver apprenticeship and EPA.

Discover the best resources to support you at this stage >

Apprenticeship and EPA support resources

Discover the key resources available to support your apprenticeship delivery at all stages of the journey.

The majority of the resources are available to download from EPA Pro, our online administration platform. Access to EPA Pro is provided to our approved City & Guilds and ILM customers delivering the on-programme standards or EPA-only service.

Find out how EPA Pro supports apprenticeship and EPA delivery

Onboarding documents and planning

Get familiar with the apprenticeship standards and guides designed to help you proactively plan and prepare for a successful delivery.

EPA handbooks (EPA packs)

EPA handbooks are available for each apprenticeship standard and bring together the essential information you need to know into one place. We strongly recommend that you read these before registering apprentices to be confident they’re on the right standard. You’ll find details and guidance on:

  • Standards and assessment plans
  • Apprenticeship timelines
  • EPA tasks and grading
  • Venue and resource requirements for EPA

Download in EPA Pro support materials

Download on the apprenticeship standards pages

Securing apprentice success: Provider guide

Discover practical advice and top tips to support your apprentices for success at all stages of their journey, including:

  • How to develop a clear onboarding plan and learning structure
  • Tips to overcome common challenges on-programme
  • Best practice to prepare your teams and apprentices for EPA.

Download our apprentice success guide  

On-programme learning

Discover resources to help you and your teams plan ahead for key milestones and to keep your apprentices on track at each stage of the apprenticeship journey.

Apprenticeship Training Manuals

Apprenticeship training manuals give full coverage of the standard with a range of practical exercises and tasks to help apprentices prepare for assessment. They are designed to support formative learning by allowing the apprentice to track their progress and record evidence. They can be particularly useful for tutors to help with structure around curriculum planning.

Recording forms

These forms are designed to help providers and employers track apprentices’ progress. They can be used to document assessments, gateway reviews, interviews, and other milestones related to the EPA. They include a portfolio checklist and matrix.

Download the resources in EPA Pro

Gateway and EPA

Exemplar materials

Our exemplar materials help apprentices practice assessment scenarios in preparation for EPA. We have standard-specific examples of EPA components and synoptic tests available to guide apprentices through mock projects and tests. These mocks give apprentices a feel of how their EPA will take shape making them more at ease on the event day and can help identify areas where more work is needed.

Lead independent end-point assessor (LIEPA) reports

LIEPA reports are designed to be used as a feedback tool for employers and providers to help refine apprenticeship delivery and improve success rates. To help you get your learners ready for EPA, the annual reports provide insights on the successes and pitfalls of EPA to date, including lessons learned, trends, areas for improvement, common reasons for failure and what good looks like.

Download the resources in EPA Pro


More apprenticeship delivery support

Access additional resources and information to support your apprenticeship delivery.

Apprenticeship and EPA administration guidance

Explore our comprehensive guidelines, policy and process documentation to support your apprenticeship and EPA administration end-to-end, including information on:

Functional Skills support: Maths and English

Many apprenticeship standards require a functional level of maths and English skills as part of mandatory qualifications that must be evidenced by gateway. At City & Guilds, we believe that all apprentices should be supported to achieve this.

Our Functional Skills qualifications help apprentices build their knowledge and confidence in these essential skills, with competitive success rates. We also offer a flexible on-demand delivery including Remote Invigilation and swift turn-around times for results. Additionally, our technical advisors are on-hand to guide your delivery, alongside digital resources to get your apprentices test ready.

Speak to us about Functional Skills

City & Guilds digital platforms

Discover City & Guilds digital platforms required to administer apprenticeships and enhance the learning experience:

EPA Pro

EPA Pro is our end-to-end apprenticeship delivery platform. You’ll use this platform to:

  • View a calendar of EPA activities, assessment progress and reports
  • View Gateway requirements and upload assessment evidence
  • Access results and statement of achievement
  • View support resources

For information on the benefits and features of EPA Pro visit the EPA Pro support page.


Walled Garden

Walled Garden is a secure administration system for customers to carry out a range of day-to-day functions quickly and efficiently. You’ll use this platform to:

  • Search for products and services
  • Book e-volve online tests and Functional Skills assessments
  • Order additional products that support on-programme training
  • Find prices for different EPAs and resits
  • Apply to deliver new apprenticeship standards

Visit the Walled Garden support hub for guidance documents and support information.


E-volve

E-volve is our online assessment platform that enables customers to easily manage online tests and access learner and apprentice results. It’s the ideal tool to oversee all stages of the assessment cycle, with key features available to help you keep track of upcoming tests, manage delivery, and measure centre and learner performance.

For guidance on how to book EPA e-volve tests watch our EPA how to book evolve test video.

Visit the E-volve support hub for guidance documents and support information.


Digital learning solutions

SmartScreen and Learning Assistant are useful online platforms to enhance the learning experience for apprentices and tutors. Whether it’s an e-portfolio to track and report on apprentice progress or engaging educational content to support on-programme learning, our digital solutions team can advise on the right online platform solution for you.

Visit the Digital learning support page to learn more and book a session with our digital solutions team.


Contact us

We are here to support and guide you through the delivery of apprenticeships and EPA only service. Contact our support teams for dedicated support.

EPA Support team

Our EPA support teams are on-hand to take you through the apprenticeship process. Our support team consists of Technical Advisors, EPA Partnership Managers, Digital Solutions Managers, and customer support teams all working together to provide solutions and guidance throughout the apprenticeship journey.

Visit the EPA Support team page to learn more and contact our specialist support teams.

Customer Service

Our Customer Service team are available to provide solutions to general enquiries and online platform support.

0192 4930 800 (option 5)

customersupport@cityandguilds.com

If you would like to deliver new standards with us or switch from another EPAO please fill in the form below a member of our team will be in touch.

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