Apprenticeships are a vital part of encouraging talent into the insurance profession and now the number of opportunities is set to double, as Liz Booth reports
The number of apprenticeships in the UK’s insurance profession is set to double, after members of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) pledged to increase apprenticeships across the insurance and long-term savings sector to 2,500 by 2025.
In the next three years, the commitment aims to:
- Boost socioeconomic diversity at entry level across the profession. The opportunities will be offered to school leavers and upwards to help reach those who might not otherwise have considered a career in the sector.
- Increase career opportunities around the UK. With two-thirds of jobs in the insurance profession based outside of London, the insurance and long-term savings sector recognises the significant role it has to play in boosting economic growth around the country and contributing to the ‘levelling up’ agenda.
- Increase access and inclusion. Boosting the number of entry level and training opportunities in the sector and building a workforce where talent can thrive, regardless of background or stage of career.
Barry O’Dwyer, ABI president and Royal London group CEO, believes: “Making our sector even more accessible and inclusive brings benefits all round. The greater the breadth and depth of our workforce, the stronger we are as a sector, the more we can support jobs around the UK and the better we can serve our customers. There is always more we can do to improve diversity across the industry and this is another step in the right direction.”
Hannah Gurga, ABI director general, adds: “As one of the largest industries in the UK, employing 320,000 people, we have an important role to play in supporting and developing people’s careers throughout the country.
“Doubling the number of apprenticeships is an important step in our continued efforts to boost diversity and inclusion across the sector, to provide career opportunities at all levels and to ensure our workforce reflects the communities we serve.”
Manuel Thompson-Oloko, early careers manager at the CII, believes that apprenticeships in insurance have become integral to entry programmes in our profession, as well as upskilling and retraining our existing workforce. He says: “They provide a great channel for boosting socioeconomic diversity, improving access and inclusion, and increasing opportunities across the UK.”
According to the ABI, there are currently about 1,200 apprentices working across the sector, in insurance-specific programmes and wider business schemes.
While many of these are aimed at younger people, Aviva is among those insurers that say apprenticeships are not just for school leavers and young people. Aviva has 450 levy-funded apprentices across its UK business, aged 18-68, of which 43% are more than 30 years old. Two-thirds of all its apprentices are existing employees looking to develop their skills.
Another approach
It is also not just about the insurance sector but about helping society more generally. As the ABI announcement was made public, RSA Insurance pledged more than £750,000 to fund external apprenticeships throughout 2022.
The funding from RSA will help launch 146 apprenticeships for 40 businesses across 12 sectors, including: agriculture, business administration, care services, charity, construction, creative and design, digital, education, hair and beauty, health and science, legal and finance, sales, marketing and procurement.
RSA will be supporting businesses that are finding it a challenge to fund vital learning programmes to train, upskill and retain existing talent, or struggling to hire new talent to close employment gaps for key sectors identified by the government’s levelling-up plan, including care services, where 64 apprenticeships will be funded from RSA’s pledge.
2,500
ABI has pledged to increase apprenticeships across the insurance and long-term savings sector from 1,200 to 2,500 by 2025
Huge impact
Large employers with an annual tax bill of more than £3m are required to pay the apprenticeship levy and they can choose to transfer 25% of their levy funds each year to non-levy-paying businesses to fund apprenticeship training.
Clare Connor, professional development consultant at RSA, says: “We know apprentices will make a huge impact and play a crucial role in developing and creating talent pipelines.
“Apprenticeships are now so inclusive and available to everyone, whether it is school leavers venturing into the world of work for the first time, or mature professionals looking to upskill. At RSA, we’ve made it our mission to myth-bust and remove the stigma around apprenticeships, while creating a welcoming and supporting environment for our employees to thrive in.”
RSA currently operates 58 programmes across its own business, with 276 apprentices holding a variety of jobs. The business is committed to building solid career paths for its apprentices and was named as one of the top 100 apprenticeship employers in the 2020 ranking by the National Apprenticeship Service.
As part of its ‘Bright Futures Early Careers’ programme, the insurance provider will launch a formal graduate programme in 2022, enabling graduates to join a degree- or master’s-level apprenticeship, fully funding further professional qualifications. In addition to benefits such as annual volunteering days and emotional fitness and wellbeing sessions, graduates will be provided with a competitive salary, allocated business mentors and talent coaches, and bespoke learning and development sessions. RSA is recruiting a minimum of 70 college and university leavers this summer.
New launch
Zurich, too, is taking a slightly different approach. Zurich’s UK-wide apprenticeship programme has delivered more than 300 apprenticeships in the past four years. However, late last year, it launched an engineer surveyor apprenticeship programme in the UK, in partnership with the Safety Assessment Federation and endorsed by multiple engineering institutes including SOE, IMechE and the IET.
As part of its commitment to provide more opportunities for budding engineer surveyors and equipping people with skills for the future, Zurich said it explored a number of initiatives in response to sector skills shortages.
The Level 4 qualification was open to applicants to provide a two-year scheme starting in January 2022. Zurich’s apprentices will get the opportunity to learn in their roles, developing their skills while studying for a qualification. Candidates will be supported by a mentor throughout.
Zurich said its engineering inspections are an essential service that is provided to customers to help keep them, and in many cases their customers, safe. Millions of these specialist examinations are carried out each year on equipment and machinery to ensure that it is safe for continued use.
Mark Stephenson, Zurich engineering training manager, said: “Every part of the programme is relevant to the role of the engineer surveyor and focuses on not only technical competence, but also professionalism, planning and organisation.
“This apprenticeship scheme will not only provide new opportunities to attract new and diverse talent into the industry, but it also will shape their learning in a structured way that will lead to competence and confidence on the job.”
Liz Booth is contributing editor of The Journal
Image credit | iStock
The apprenticeship experience
Last year, Lewis Cunningham completed an insurance practitioner apprenticeship at RSA, based in Manchester.
Mr Cunningham, who now holds the position of commercial claims handler, says: “I applied for the apprenticeship because I didn’t actually want to go to university. I didn’t like learning when there was no practical element to it and when it was classroom-based. When you undertake an apprenticeship in the insurance sector, everything that you are learning about in the CII books relates to your day-to-day job and has a practical element to it.
“Since I have completed the apprenticeship, I feel like I have got a lot more and better job opportunities. It’s really good for getting your foot in the door at the company, getting experience across a number of departments, networking with key contacts and gaining valuable advice on how to progress in your career.”
In Bromley, Abby Williams, who undertook an apprenticeship at Direct Line Group, says that initially she didn’t think she was qualified for a role in the sector.
“At the beginning, I was very nervous – I did not have much knowledge of insurance. I had taken out car insurance once and that was it, that was the extent of my knowledge. I felt very underqualified, however I soon realised that there was nothing to worry about and an apprenticeship is all about learning as you go – and we have had so many opportunities to expand our knowledge and learn new things.”
