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Welding Apprenticeships for Employers
The UK’s manufacturing, engineering, and fabrication industries rely on highly skilled welders to produce safe, high-quality products and infrastructure. As demand for qualified welders continues to grow and an ageing workforce approaches retirement, many employers are facing increasing skills shortages and difficulties recruiting experienced staff. Investing in apprenticeships is an effective way to develop the next generation of welding professionals while building a resilient workforce for the future.
Apprenticeships provide an excellent opportunity to recruit motivated individuals who can earn while they learn, gain a recognised Level 3 qualification, and develop valuable practical experience alongside your existing workforce. Through a combination of workplace learning and structured training, apprentices develop the technical knowledge and hands-on skills needed to interpret engineering drawings, operate industry-standard welding equipment, and produce high-quality welds that meet industry specifications and safety standards.
Developing skilled welders within your organisation helps improve productivity, maintain quality standards, and create a workforce that understands your business from the ground up. As apprentices gain experience, they become increasingly confident, capable, and able to contribute to projects across a range of manufacturing and engineering environments.
Creating clear career development opportunities through apprenticeships not only helps attract new talent but also improves staff retention, increases employee engagement, and equips your workforce with the skills needed to meet the evolving demands of the engineering and manufacturing sectors.
Let us help you develop the skilled welding professionals your business needs to grow, innovate, and succeed.
Plate Welder Apprenticeship (Level 3)
Qualification
Duration
Location of Study
This apprenticeship is at Level 3 – equivalent to A-levels – and will equip apprentices with skills and knowledge that can be directly applied in their roles.
Apprentices on this course will learn to produce welds using manual and machanised arc weling processes to sector standards. Each welding process requires different welding equipment, assemblies, controls, skills and techniques, and represents a separate production process.
Start dates are available throughout the year.
Skills Gained
Apprentices will learn to manually weld plate and structural components to high standards of quality.
This will involve fabrication, construction or repair of fabricated plate assemblies, extrusions and structural components (e.g. Channel, H-Beams, I-Beams etc.) used often used to fabricate larger components and assemblies.
They will weld to internationally recognised quality standards using more than one manual arc welding process from Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG), Plasma Arc Welding (PAW), Manual Metal Arc (MMA), Metal Inert Gas (MIG)/Metal Active Gas (MAG) and Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) on more than one material group from Carbon Steel, Low Alloy Steel, High Alloy Ferritic/Martensitic Steel, Austenitic Stainless Steel, Nickel & Nickel Alloys, Aluminium & Aluminium alloys, Titanium & Titanium Alloys, Copper & Copper Alloys.
For example, a Plate Welder might use Manual Metal Arc (MMA) and Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) to join both Carbon Steel and Low Alloy Steel materials.
The occupation requires production of welds in plate and structural components covering three plate welding positions which must include Vertical (either upward or downward progression) and Overhead, and the three main joint configurations (Single or Double Sided Butt, Single or Double Sided T-Butt & Fillet).
Training Structure & Time Commitments
Learners will typically study through a blend of workshops and face-to-face sessions.
On campus, they’ll benefit from regular classes with an experienced college tutor.
Candidate Suitability
Prospective apprentices would typically have already achieved a GCSE (or Level 2 equivalent) at grade 4/C in English and Maths.
Assessment Method
Learners have a 3-month apprenticeship assessment period.
This will include a multiple-choice test, a practial assessment with questions, and an interview underpinned by a portfolio of evidence.
Progression
Upon successful completion, learners can progress on to a permenant position as a qualified Plate Welder, before senior or specialist roles as they gain experience. They could also pursue higher-level qualifications, specialist welding qualifications, or further engineering apprenticeships.
Funding & Costs
If you’re a large company, you can fund the course using your apprenticeship levy. SMEs can access government funding to subsidise the cost by 95%, or 100% depending on the age of the apprentice. To find out more click here.
Interested in offering this as an apprenticeship?
Prefer to speak to someone?
Contact our team today.
Call – 01992 411 572
Email – apprenticeship@hrc.ac.uk