Doing an Intermediate Apprenticeship in the public services

Emma Finamore
Last updated 21 Jan 2019

Explore the apprenticeship options available in the public services, for those wanting to complete an Intermediate Apprenticeship.

‘Public services’ is a term that encapsulates many of the careers that serve the community in some way. For those interested in this, and in doing an Intermediate Apprenticeship, there are many public services apprenticeships to choose from.

Housing Intermediate Apprenticeships

Housing officers supervise the day-to-day management of rented properties that belong to housing associations and local authorities. They assess the needs of people applying for housing, allocate vacant accommodation and deal with problems from anti-social behaviour to broken boilers.

Apprentices’ duties will depend on whether the employer is part of the public sector, the voluntary sector, or the private rented sector. You could be assessing the housing need in applicants, letting homes, collecting rents and managing the development of new homes.

You’ll learn about:

· Customer services

· Housing management

· Lettings and allocation

· Homelessness and advice

· Supported housing (shared housing, hostels and sheltered housing)

· Repairs and maintenance

As an Intermediate level apprentice you can train as a housing assistant.

Libraries, archives & information management Intermediate Apprenticeships

This apprenticeship covers roles in libraries, archives and information services - all of which exist to give the pubic the information they want to find.

Working in a library you could be organising storytelling sessions for children; helping people learn to use a compute; working with someone to trace their family tree; or cataloguing and indexing books.

As an archivist, you’ll take care of collections of historical items and documents in companies and communities, working with all types of materials, from books and maps to film and electronic files.

Increasingly, the best companies are those which make the best use of knowledge and information, with specialist staff ensuring that the right information is easily available to colleagues and customers. Information services work can involve writing reports for staff, managing intranets and website content, running workshops for staff on best practice, and helping people find the right information

This apprenticeship is a good base for moving on to further education, as career progression in this field often requires a degree.

On an Intermediate Apprenticeship you can train in roles like:

· Information assistant

· Library assistant

· Archive assistant

· Records assistant

· Search room assistant

· Learning support assistant

· Productions assistant

Legal advice Intermediate Apprenticeships

Legal advisers are needed to help the general public understand legal matters that relate to their personal and professional lives. Many of the legal advice providers in the country are not-for-profit bodies that are funded publically. As such, many people in legal advice are volunteers who are not looking for career progression routes – so apprentices can progress quickly.

As an Intermediate apprentice you can train as a legal signposting adviser.

Youth work Intermediate Apprenticeships

This is about providing young people with challenges and new experiences - allowing them to be creative, active and have fun.

Every young person has a unique situation so you could be doing a wide range of tasks, such as:

· Offering counselling and support

· Developing projects that tackle issues

· Organising activities like sports and drama

You’ll need to come up with creative ways to reach young people and be able to build relationships with them, but there’s an administrative side to youth work too, for example managing volunteers or part-time staff, applying for grants, keeping records of your work, and working with other professionals including social workers, teachers and probation officers.

As an Intermediate apprentice you can train as an assistant youth support worker, and if you progress to the Advanced Apprenticeship you’ll be in a good position to take the next step in your career as a youth worker, with qualifications that most employers will support you in doing on a part-time basis.

Image courtesy of Nico Beard