It is a programme that equips people with the practical skills, technical understanding and strategic mindset needed to identify, design and implement responsible AI and automation solutions. Participants develop the confidence to analyse workflows, improve processes, evaluate digital tools and support the successful adoption of AI-enabled change, applied to real workplace challenges.
AI and Automation Practitioners work alongside operational teams to find where repetitive work is slowing people down, build solutions that remove it, and bring colleagues with them so the change lasts. Participants learn where AI should assist people, where automation should replace repetitive tasks, and where human judgement remains essential.
Fifteen months on programme, plus one further month at the end for the Apprenticeship Assessment. Assessment itself takes place throughout the programme as well as in that final month. Learning is delivered across five workshops grouped into three connected goals, beginning with onboarding and a Personal Development Plan session.
Learning is delivered across five connected workshops, plus a workplace project that runs alongside them.
Any function with repetitive process work, which is nearly all of them. Routine tasks such as reporting, customer communications, document creation, scheduling, approvals, data entry and workflow management can all be automated, giving people more time to focus on work that creates value.
No. The programme is built around low and no-code platforms, so no programming background is required. Participants work with tools including Zapier, Make and Power Automate.
Both. This standard works particularly well for upskilling existing employees, who already understand your processes and therefore identify automation opportunities faster.
The programme is levy funded at up to £18,000 per participant, so levy-paying employers can draw on their apprenticeship levy to cover the training and assessment costs. Non-levy employers contribute a small co-investment percentage, with government funding the remainder. Talk to us about your levy position and we will confirm what it means for your organisation.
No. Training, coaching, learning resources, the BUD e-portfolio platform and the independent assessment are all covered within the funding band. The only further investment is the participant’s time.
Every participant completes a live AI and automation project. Rather than completing academic assignments in isolation, participants apply what they learn to a real problem in your organisation, chosen with their manager, so the work delivers evidenced time or cost savings back to the business as it is being assessed.
The project is selected alongside managers and the Development Coach, so it addresses a genuine business priority and gives the participant enough scope to evidence the required skills. It is scoped to be achievable within the programme while delivering real value.
Projects are as varied as the organisations we work with, but they follow the same structured route: map the current process and validate where time is lost, evaluate the right tools, build and test the solution, train the people who will use it, then measure and report the saving so the gain is sustained.
Typical themes include automating proposal generation and CRM updates in sales, streamlining recruitment and onboarding workflows in HR, building ticket routing and AI-assisted responses in customer service, automating invoice processing and reconciliations in finance, and creating real-time reporting that pulls data from multiple systems.
Participants work with a range of automation platforms and applied skills throughout the project.
Directly. The mandatory project assessment is based on the real workplace project, underpinned by the participant’s log of evidence in their portfolio. The work the participant does for the business is the work they are assessed on.
No. Learning is applied continuously from the start. Participants bring workplace challenges into every workshop and implement improvements as they progress, so value is delivered throughout rather than only at completion.
No. Technical capability is delivered alongside the leadership and people-management skills that turn automation into lasting organisational change. Automation only sticks when people are brought with it, so these topics are infused throughout the programme rather than bolted on at the end.
Through doing the work. Delivering an automation project means engaging colleagues affected by a change, translating technical concepts into something a non-technical team can act on, reporting progress to managers and sponsors, writing user guides and running training so people adopt new ways of working.
The apprenticeship assesses a set of behaviours alongside technical skill.
By the end of the apprenticeship, participants are equipped to make a measurable impact within their role, their team and their organisation. AI and automation capability is in short supply and growing fast, and many participants go on to wider transformation or team leadership responsibility, and to higher-level apprenticeships and leadership programmes at Level 5 and above.
A minimum of 420 off-the-job hours across the programme, which works out at roughly six hours per week. Because the learning is applied to a live project in the participant’s own role, much of that time is spent on work that also benefits the business.
Every participant has an experienced Development Coach providing personalised guidance, with one-to-one reviews every eight to ten weeks tracking progress, evidence and wellbeing. Managers join quarterly tripartite reviews, help select the automation project and support protected time for off-the-job learning, typically a few hours per quarter. Learning is supported by practical resources, applied learning activities and industry-relevant digital tools.
The programme covers widely available platforms such as Zapier, Make and Power Automate, alongside AI tools and data analysis techniques. Most organisations already hold licences for at least one suitable platform, and your coach will help identify what fits your existing stack.
Assessment takes place throughout the programme, plus one month at the end. Achievement is gained through the Apprenticeship Assessment, carried out by an independent Apprenticeship Assessment Organisation and built around a mandatory project assessment supported by at least one further method chosen by that organisation.