Apprenticeships offer a way to gain training and develop new skills and qualifications while you work and earn. This page has information for:
Apprenticeships are a great way to start to start a career in health and social care or early years and childcare. You can earn money while you learn, get hands-on experience in the workplace, and build the skills you need to succeed.
If you’re aged 16 or over and care about supporting children, families, or people who need help, an apprenticeship could be for you. You’ll work as part of a team, develop practical skills, gain recognised qualifications, and get paid while you do it.
Apprenticeships combine:
Your pay will depend on your age, experience, and the role you take on. You’ll be treated like any other employee, with real responsibilities and opportunities to develop.
There are many career paths in the care sector. When you start an apprenticeship, you’re not just starting a job, you’re starting a journey toward a rewarding career where you can make a real difference and build a future that matters.
Welsh language and bilingual apprenticeships
You have the right to complete any apprenticeship programme in Welsh, English or bilingually.
Apprentices can:
⦁ take part in training opportunities in the language they choose
⦁ learn new language skills and develop their Welsh at work.
Funding
The Welsh Government and employers share the costs of apprenticeship funding in Wales (shared-responsibility model).
The Welsh Government pays most or all training costs, through the national apprenticeships programme. Approved or contracted providers deliver and administer the training.
Employers must pay the apprentice’s wage. They may also cover any additional training beyond what’s funded.
Find out more on the Welsh Government website.
There’s a wide range of apprenticeships to help you start or progress your career in early years and childcare or social care.
You can take Children’s Care, Play, Learning and Development apprenticeships or Health and Social Care apprenticeships at levels 2 to 5. They offer pathways from entry‑level roles to advanced and leadership positions. These programmes help you gain the knowledge and practical skills you need to provide high‑quality care, support, and education across early years, childcare, and social care settings.
Entry requirements:
There are no formal entry requirements to start an apprenticeship, but you must already be employed. Your apprenticeship level will match your current role, so your learning is relevant and can be applied directly to your day‑to‑day responsibilities.
Although there are no academic entry requirements, if you don’t already hold maths and English qualifications, you’ll need to complete Essential Skills Wales (ESW) as part of your apprenticeship.
When you start your role, you’ll be given an induction. We also suggest you complete the relevant All Wales induction framework for your sector - either early years and childcare or health and social care.
If you work in some roles in social care, you must register with Social Care Wales. Find out more about which roles need to register.
Learn more about the social care and early years and childcare frameworks, and the qualifications and essential skills needed for each of the apprenticeships here:
Apprenticeships vary so it’s difficult to give exact timeframes for how long it will take to finish. As a guide:
You’ll be given an individual apprenticeship plan which will include an estimate of how long your apprenticeship will take. The plan will look at:
Social Care Wales oversees the qualifications people need to work in the social care and early years and childcare, and supports workforce development. We help workers gain the knowledge and skills to protect, empower, and care for people who need support.
We also work closely with sector experts to keep qualifications up to date, relevant, and suitable for roles across the sector.
Our qualification framework sets out what qualifications are needed for different roles.
Here are some examples of roles linked to different apprenticeship levels:
As a Level 2 apprentice you could be a:
As a Level 3 apprentice you could be a:
As a Level 4 apprentice you could be a:
As a Level 5 apprentice you would be a:
Visit Careers Wales to learn more about how to access an apprenticeship to meet your needs.
WeCare Wales Career Cards provide information about different roles in childcare and social care.
The WeCare Wales website has lots of apprenticeship resources.
When we develop new apprenticeships or review existing ones, we consult employers to help us identify the skills needed in the workforce.
Our role is to make sure that all apprenticeships follow the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards in Wales.
Employers are responsible for:
Apprentices are given salaries, like other employees. Their salary will depend on their age, experience, skills and ability.
Business Wales provides information for employers about:
All social care and early years and childcare apprenticeship frameworks are available on the Apprenticeship Certification Wales (ACW) website.
Learning providers can register their centre with ACW. Once you’ve registered, we’ll email you to confirm.
ACW makes it possible for training providers to:
Our role at Social Care Wales is to help check evidence to make sure it meets the required standards. We then send certificates to learning providers who award the apprenticeship to their learners.
There are three evidence checklists for learning providers to use while certifying apprenticeships on ACW, for frameworks in:
Contact us if you have any queries relating to the Evidence Checklist or proxy qualifications.
Apprenticeship Certification Wales (ACW) is a registered trademark, owned and managed by the Skills Federation and not by Social Care Wales.
To create an online account:
We don’t issue separate ACW logins for different frameworks. The admin login will allow you to create five individual usernames and passwords for staff within your organisation.
To learn more about how to use ACW, visit the ACW website. If you need help, contact ACW directly on acw@skillsfederation.org or by phone on 0300 303 4444.
If you have a question or if you can't find what you are looking for get in touch with us.
