Case Study: Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust embeds off-the-job apprenticeship training with NHS Employers

Embedding apprenticeship off the job training

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) needed a practical way to meet the apprenticeship levy’s requirement for 20% off-the-job training while maintaining safe staffing and prioritising patient care across its many sites. Working with NHS Employers, the trust looked for a model that would let apprentices develop skills without disrupting frontline services.

NHS Employers helped GMMH redefine off-the-job training as “dedicated learning time” and plan it collaboratively with managers and apprentices, usually eight weeks in advance alongside rota planning. The trust used a mix of coaching, mentoring, shadowing, improvement projects and stretch-and-challenge work, helping it grow from around 60 apprentices before the levy to 108 in 2017-18 and a projected 200 in 2018-19, while also supporting service improvements such as CQUIN projects and a dementia garden initiative.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust