without breaking the bank

Q: Isn’t a starting salary of £16k below the national minimum wage of £20,450?

Yes it is, but not for an apprentice. You can start an apprentice on less, but have to be at the national minimum wage level after 12 months. We suggest you build their salary up in steps connected to their performance.

Q: What if I want an existing employee to sign up?

1/8 of our apprentices are existing employees of our clients. You would continue to pay their salary but if they are under 25y then you stop paying Employers NIC potentially saving you c.£2,000 a year. You contribute £550 towards the apprenticeship training cost and a further £178 per month for the ROI support service.

Q: What does the apprenticeship recruitment fee cover?

The fee covers our comprehensive, one-stop recruitment service which includes targeted advertising, smart screening, facilitated half-day assessment centre, and all candidate communication. We handle everything from start to finish, freeing you from the burdens of recruitment admin. You can read more here.

Q: As well as the Government funding, are there any other savings to be made by going down the apprenticeship route?

There certainly are! If your new employee is under 25 when they start, you do not need to pay employer’s National Insurance contributions – a saving of around £1,780 per annum.

Q: I’m extremely busy. Do I get any help with the funding application for the apprenticeship?

Absolutely. We understand that filling in complicated government forms is not anyone’s idea of a good time. So we complete all the forms for you, then on a single Zoom call we guide you through each clause so you know what you are committed to when you secure the funds.

First- Class Training without breaking the bank

Hiring a fully supported apprentice could save your business up to £1,200 in the first year

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Low upfront
payment

Government funds the bulk of the Training cost

No-hire,
no-fee guarantee

Navigating the apprenticeship funding can be a minefield

Every business wants the right apprentice – but worries about managing training costs and accessing funding can hold business owners and managers back from hiring.

At Working Knowledge, we understand the toll this can take. That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive funding breakdown to give you the clarity you need to understand how cost-effective hiring a digital marketing apprentice can be.

It comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional professional training.

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Typically, Working Knowledge apprentices are aged 23 and more than 40% are educated to degree level.

I want to hire a digital marketing apprentice.
How much will I have to pay?

At Working Knowledge, we know how busy employers are so we’ve made things simple for you.

There are four finance elements to a Working Knowledge Apprenticeship.

Government-funded Apprenticeship Training

Recruitment Service (no hire-no fee)

The Return On Investment Support Package

The Apprentice's Salary

1. Government-funded Apprenticeship Training

Our Digital Marketing Academy has been mapped to a Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship. This ensures the government funds £10,450 (95%) of the certified training costs while you pay £550 (5%) as a one-off fee at the outset. This does not apply to businesses with an annual salary commitment of £3 million+, who pay the Apprenticeship Levy, which you can read more about here.

In addition, employers may not need to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions for an apprentice, if the apprentice:

is under 25 years old
lives or works in England
is on an approved English government apprenticeship standard or framework
earns less than £967 a week (£50,270 a year)

Our team complete the majority of your funding application for you as part of our service.

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See what makes our apprenticeship one of a kind:

Recruitment includes facilitated assessment centre

Delivered by practising marketing consultants

Underpinned by Storybrand & Access to Business Made Simple University

Weekly expert webinars

Monthly 1:1 marketing coaching

Monthly ROI Sessions for managers

2. Recruitment Service (no hire - no fee)

All Working Knowledge apprentices are recruited using a long-standing, proven process.

Through targeted advertising, smart screening and a facilitated assessment day, we ensure the candidates we put forward for your business have outstanding potential, attitude, inquisitiveness and resilience.

This element of our service carries a one-off fee of 15% of starting salary, normally £2,400. But we’re so confident in our processes, we will shoulder the cost of this labour-intensive work if you decide not to hire any of the candidates we put forward.

No hire – no fee.

You can read all about our recruitment process here.

Our Recruitment guarantee

We have an excellent track record of training award-winning apprentices – the 2022 and 2023 BCS National Digital Marketing Apprentices Of The Year were recruited and trained by Working Knowledge.

Ready to meet some of our apprentices?

Chris Neuman

Taxful

New LinkedIn marketing is responsible for 62% increase in monthly recurring revenue

Dan Starmer

Digital Marketing Executive

SEO improvements led to a 42% increase in users from organic search

Tammy Devonald

Ovation Finance

Creating dashboards shifted the team to a data-led approach and improved reporting at board level

3. The Return On Investment support service

Hiring a digital marketing apprentice should deliver results for your business and help you grow.

Most of our clients do not have up-to-date Digital Marketing expertise or have the time to dedicate to supporting the professional development of their apprentice.

That’s why our additional support package for managers is designed to help you maximise your return on investment. For just £178 a month you can access monthly leadership development sessions led by a certified business coach and marketing professionals.

You’ll learn how to set and lead your marketing so you can maximise your return and build an in-house marketing operation that consistently delivers more of the right customers.

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4. Your apprentice’s salary

You will of course need to pay your apprentice. The average salary for an entry-level digital marketer is £22,000 (£24,000 in London and SE).

To attract the very best candidates for the position, we suggest you consider offering a starting salary of £16,000 and increase the salary by 4x £1,500 increments tagged to key deliverables in order to reach £22,000 when they graduate from the Digital Marketing Academy after 17 months.

Please note, if your apprentice is under 25y you are not liable to pay Employers National Insurance Contributions, which is a saving of approximately £1,780 per year.

You can find more Government guidance on apprentice rates of pay here.

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Recruit your apprentice with confidence

Step 1: Schedule Your Call

Discover how our unique approach makes hiring and supporting the right high-achieving apprentice for your business easy.

Step 2: Recruit Your Dream Hire

Trust us, you’ll be spoilt for choice. Our talent hunters will advertise, screen and assess your candidates, and then present the top 3-4 to you in a facilitated half-day assessment centre. The process is super-efficient with your time while giving you the peace of mind you’ll have the highest calibre candidates put forward to find the best cultural fit.

Step 3: Boost Your Business Growth

Watch your apprentice thrive and your marketing capabilities improve so your business can flourish, with expert support and clear, measurable results that bring your goals within reach.

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DISCOVER WHAT YOUR APPRENTICE WILL LEARN

Explore our extensive digital marketing curriculum and expert support package for you and your apprentice.

Find out what makes our programme the gold standard of apprenticeship training and how the 2023 & 2022 winners of the BCS National Digital Marketing Apprentice Of The Year came through the unique Working Knowledge programme.

BUILD YOUR IN-HOUSE
MARKETING CAPABILITY HERE

SUPPORT FOR BUSINESS OWNERS AND MANAGERS

One of the reasons Working Knowledge apprentices are such high achievers is because of the additional support we provide for managers and business owners too.

Find out how we support managers to lead their Digital Marketing, even if they have no prior marketing experience, to maximise positive results for you.

YOUR SUPPORT
PACKAGE

7 Steps To Hiring The Perfect Apprentice

Hiring a junior marketer can seem like a daunting task, especially when you're unsure of what to look for. That's why we've crafted a comprehensive FREE guide just for you. '7 Steps To Hiring The Perfect Apprentice' is your roadmap to navigating the hiring process with ease and confidence. This guide is packed with proven strategies and insider tips to help you pinpoint talent, assess skills, and make an informed decision. Don't gamble with your next hire - download your free guide today and secure the perfect junior marketer for your team.

Why Businesses Choose To Partner With Working Knowledge

"One of my fears was that we're a busy small team, and I'm not an expert in marketing - so I was worried about how I'd manage and develop someone, how I'd keep them busy.
But with Working Knowledge, they have a coach and specialist trainers who provide that learning and development support as experts."

Nick Pearce, CEO, Alexander Daniels Global

"It's a really good way of bringing in some support without it being a huge financial commitment, but also bringing in skills that we didn't have.The volume of work that we're now able to get through as a team is tremendous. I'm no longer the bottleneck that's holding stuff up!"

Jen Webb, Marketing Manager, Pearson Ham

"It's given us clarity around cause and effect at the top of our sales pipeline. We can say, 'We know if we do this, it drives this result and we have a process'. Being able to articulate that means we now understand the entire start to finish of our own sales pipeline."

Seamus Whittingham, Chief Revenue Officer, Ai Build

Frequently Asked Questions

How do these costs compare to a ‘regular’ employee?

Taking on a fully supported apprentice could save your business up to £1,200 in the first year compared with employing an entry-level digital marketer directly. And with Working Knowledge, we will handle the recruitment process, training and appraisal process for you, saving you further time and/or money! Our process is so successful that the 2022 and 2023 BCS Apprentices Of The Year came through our scheme. So there’s definite advantages over simply hiring someone via a traditional recruitment process.

	Digital Marketing Apprentice with Working Knowledge	For your comparison: An entry-level Digital Marketer recruited directly by you
Salary for first 12 months	£17,500	£22,000*
Employers NIC (assuming under 25y)	£0	£1,780
Recruitment Fee	£2,400	£0
Digital Marketing Academy Subscription (total of 17 months)	£2,136	£0
% contribution to the apprenticeship	£550	£0
Total annual cost	£22,586	£23,780
Monthly cost	£1,882	£1,982

*National average entry-level salary for an inexperienced Digital Marketer

Isn’t a starting salary of £16k below the national minimum wage of £20,450?

What if I want an existing employee to sign up?

What does the apprenticeship recruitment fee cover?

Is the 15% fee (c.£2,400) fee charged even if I decide not to hire any of the candidates Working Knowledge puts forward?

No, you are not obliged to pay the apprenticeship recruitment fee if you decide not to hire any of the digital marketing apprenticeship candidates we put forward. We back our process 100%. Our ultimate goal is your satisfaction and finding an apprentice who is the right fit for your company for the long-run. After all, the government funding (and our profit) is pegged to your apprentice graduating from our Academy at 17 months – so we simply have to get it right!

As well as the Government funding, are there any other savings to be made by going down the apprenticeship route?

I’m extremely busy. Do I get any help with the funding application for the apprenticeship?

Hiring a digital marketing apprentice that delivers real results for a business shouldn’t feel out of reach. With the Working Knowledge Digital Marketing Apprenticeship Programme we make sure it isn’t.

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Don't let funding worries hold your business back

Building an all-star team shouldn’t come down to finding the time to fill in a funding application or setting aside a huge sum to fund their training.

Schedule a call today and discover how our funding and fees structure delivers and develops excellent junior digital marketers without hammering your finances.

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without breaking the bank

First- Class Training without breaking the bank