For a business operating across the multiple disciplines within the water leisure sector, apprenticeships offer an opportunity to cost-effectively build the specialist workforce for the future. Finding people who already possess the right combination of skills and industry knowledge can be challenging.
Apprenticeships provide businesses with a way to develop those skills in-house while benefiting from significant government support towards training costs. A major advantage of apprenticeships is the opportunity to develop employees who understand not only their trade but how it applies specifically to swimming pools, spas and wellness facilities. An apprentice could gain experience across a broad spectrum from pool construction, pool plant and project management and everything in between.
The value to SEMS is that technical knowledge can be combined with real-world wet leisure experience. An experienced engineer or project manager may have years of knowledge about what works on a pool project.
Apprenticeships provide a structured way of transferring that knowledge to the next generation. The financial support available in England makes the business case particularly appealing. For a non-Apprenticeship-Levy-paying employer, the government will fund 100% of apprenticeship training and assessment costs, up to the relevant funding-band maximum, for apprentices aged 16–24 starting from August 2026.
For apprentices aged 25 or over, the employer normally contributes 5% of the eligible training and assessment cost, with government funding the remaining 95%.
This means that if, for example, an apprenticeship has an eligible training and assessment price of £10,000: The exact funding available depends on the apprenticeship standard and its funding band. If the agreed training price exceeds the applicable funding-band maximum, the employer is responsible for the difference.
For a business considering several apprentices, this is potentially a substantial saving on external training costs.
HIRING INCENTIVES
There is also a new incentive specifically aimed at encouraging non-levy employers to recruit young apprentices.
From October, eligible non-levy employers recruiting a new apprentice aged 16–24 can receive a £2,000 hiring payment. The payment is made in two instalments, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions.
For example, if a business recruited three eligible 16–24-year-old apprentices, the potential hiring payments would be: 3 × £2,000 = £6,000
That would be in addition to the government support for the apprentices’ eligible training and assessment.
There is also a further £1,000 payment available where an eligible apprentice is aged 16–18, or aged 19–25 and has an education, health and care plan or has been in the care of their local authority. The employer and training provider can each be eligible for a £1,000 payment.
Consequently, an eligible SEMS apprentice aged 16–18 could potentially generate:
• £2,000 hiring payment for the employer
• £1,000 additional payment
• 100% government-funded training and assessment, subject to the funding-band maximum That represents up to £3,000 of direct employer payments, alongside the funding of eligible training.
JOBS GRANT
There is another incentive that could be relevant when recruiting young people.
The Youth Jobs Grant provides up to £3,000 to employers who hire an eligible apprentice aged 18–24 who has been unemployed and claiming Universal Credit for at least six months. The payment is made in two instalments: £1,800 after six weeks and £1,200 after 18 weeks.
This means that, where an individual meets all the criteria, the financial support can be significantly greater.
For example: £2,000 hiring payment + £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant= £5,000 before taking account of the government’s contribution towards apprenticeship training.
Some incentives can be combined, but eligibility needs to be confirmed for the particular apprentice and employer. The principal ongoing cost for SEMS will be the apprentice’s salary and the associated employment costs.
From April 2026, the statutory apprentice rate is £8.00 per hour. This applies to apprentices aged under 19 and apprentices aged 19 or over during their first year. Once an apprentice aged 19+ has completed the first year, they become entitled to the minimum wage applicable to their age.
That means an apprentice working a 37.5-hour week at £8 per hour would have a basic annual wage of approximately: 37.5 × £8 × 52 = £15,600
That is before considering employer pension contributions, holiday arrangements and other employment costs. Importantly, apprentices under 25 generally benefit from an employer National Insurance exemption, subject to the relevant HMRC conditions. The wage should therefore be viewed alongside the training funding and other incentives rather than as the only cost.
MORE THAN MONEY
For SEMS, the strongest return may ultimately come from creating employees who already understand the business. An apprentice who spends several years learning SEMS’s products, systems, customers and working practices can develop knowledge that an external recruit may take considerable time to acquire.
There is also a succession-planning benefit. Today’s apprentice could become tomorrow’s senior engineer, project manager, technical sales specialist or operations manager. The investment therefore has the potential to address both immediate recruitment requirements and longer-term skills shortages.
SEMS would not have to create the entire programme itself. An approved training provider can help identify an appropriate apprenticeship standard, arrange training and assessment, monitor progress and support both the apprentice and employer. The government apprenticeship service also enables employers to access funding and manage apprenticeship arrangements. Non-levy employers can reserve funding through the service, while levy-paying businesses can use their levy funds for eligible training.
For SEMS, the ideal model would be a partnership between the training provider and the company’s experienced staff: formal apprenticeship training combined with practical exposure to real swimming-pool, spa and wellness projects.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
The financial incentives make apprenticeships attractive, but the bigger opportunity is strategic. Businesses operating in a specialist industry where technical knowledge, practical experience and customer relationships are important. Recruiting and developing apprentices gives the company an opportunity to create its own pipeline of skilled employees rather than relying entirely on an external labour market.
A three-apprentice programme could potentially involve:
• £6,000 in young-apprentice hiring payments, where all three qualify;
• potentially £3,000 additional payments if all three meet the relevant 16–18 eligibility criteria;
• potentially £9,000 of Youth Jobs Grant funding if three recruits separately meet those criteria;
• 100% government funding of eligible training and assessment for qualifying 16–24-year-olds, up to the funding-band maximum;
• and potentially no employer National Insurance contributions while eligible apprentices are under 25.
An apprenticeship programme can combine government-funded training, recruitment incentives, reduced employment costs and, most importantly, the development of specialist people who understand the swimming-pool, spa and wellness industry.
That makes apprenticeships worth considering not simply as a way of filling vacancies, but as a structured investment in the future technical capability, succession planning and growth of wet leisure businesses.
