Our free recruitment service for education employers
Recruitment in education has rarely been harder or more expensive. Agency fees, advertising spend and repeated rounds of interviews absorb budget that should be reaching learners. Our recruitment service exists to remove that cost entirely. We source the candidate, match them to the skills gap you actually need to close, place them into your vacancy and then train them through a fully funded apprenticeship. You pay us nothing for the recruitment.
What the service actually is
NCE runs a candidate pipeline of people who want to build a career in education: school leavers, career changers, learning support volunteers, youth workers, early years practitioners and parents returning to work. When you have a vacancy that could be delivered as an apprenticeship, we recruit into it on your behalf.
No recruitment fee, no placement fee, no advertising cost, ever.
We write the advert, list the vacancy on our careers board and promote it to our candidate pool and local networks.
We screen and shortlist against your criteria, values and safeguarding expectations before anything reaches your inbox.
You interview the shortlist and make the hiring decision. The appointment is always yours.
We enrol the successful candidate onto the matching apprenticeship standard and support them to End Point Assessment.
Why we do it for nothing
We are a training provider, not an agency. Our income comes from delivering the apprenticeship once your new starter is in post, and that funding comes from the levy or from government co-investment rather than from your recruitment budget. Placing the right person and keeping them in the role is directly in our interest, which is a very different incentive to a fee-per-placement model.
"An agency is paid when someone starts. We are only successful when someone stays, achieves and progresses."
Matched to your skills gaps, not just your job title
Before we advertise anything, your Partnerships Manager runs a short workforce conversation with you. We look at where you are carrying risk: SEND capacity, safeguarding cover, early years ratios, pastoral provision, curriculum support, succession into middle leadership.
That conversation decides which apprenticeship standard the role is built around, so the training your new starter receives is closing the gap you identified rather than a generic induction.
Workforce and skills gap review, usually 45 minutes with your headteacher, business manager or HR lead.
Role design, mapping the vacancy to the right apprenticeship standard and funding band.
Advert, sourcing and screening by our recruitment team.
Shortlist, interview and your appointment decision.
Onboarding, enrolment and the first mentor session before day one.
What it costs you to train them: usually very little
Once your apprentice is in post, training is funded through the apprenticeship levy if you are a levy payer, or through government co-investment if you are not. Non-levy employers taking on an apprentice aged 16 to 24 currently pay nothing towards training. Where a 5% contribution would apply, we can often source a levy transfer from a partner trust, council or employer to cover it in full.
You can model this for any of our apprenticeships using the funding calculator on our homepage, or read the detail in our funding guides at /employers/resources.
And the incentives you can claim on top
Hiring an apprentice also opens up government payments and exemptions that most schools never claim. In summary:
£1,000 for taking on an apprentice aged 16 to 18, or 19 to 24 with an EHCP or care experience.
A hiring payment of up to £2,000 for eligible new apprentices aged 16 to 24 from 1 October 2026.
No employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under 25 earning under the upper threshold.
Additional learning support funding where an apprentice has an identified need.
The full detail, including eligibility and payment timings, is set out in our government incentives guide in the employer resources library.
The total picture for an employer
Put together, a school or trust using this service typically gets a screened and matched candidate at no recruitment cost, a fully or almost fully funded qualification for that person, a cash incentive payment where the apprentice is young or care experienced, a National Insurance saving for the duration, and a dedicated Professional Learning Mentor supporting them in role for the length of the programme.
That is a workforce plan rather than a hire. It is also why partners tend to come back and repeat the process across multiple roles and multiple schools once the first apprentice is settled.
Retention, safeguarding and quality
Every candidate we put forward is screened for right to work and referenced before shortlisting, and safer recruitment checks including the DBS remain your responsibility as the employer, exactly as they would with any appointment. We will support your process and provide our own vetting records, but we never substitute for your statutory duties under Keeping Children Safe in Education.
Once in post, apprentices get six hours a week of protected off-the-job learning, a workplace mentor agreed with you, and progress reviews you are invited to. If something is not working, you hear it from us early rather than at the point of withdrawal.
Who this suits
Single schools filling teaching assistant, early years or pastoral vacancies on a tight budget.
Multi-academy trusts building a grow-your-own pipeline across several academies at once.
Nurseries and early years settings under ratio pressure.
Colleges and local authorities recruiting into support, youth and employability roles.
How to start
Tell us the vacancy, or just the pressure point if the role is not written yet. We will come back with the standard that fits, a funding position, the incentives you would be eligible for, and a recruitment timeline. There is no commitment and no cost to have the conversation.
Ready to plan your next cohort?
Talk to the NCE employer team.
Whether you are shaping a business case, comparing providers or planning a trust-wide programme, we will help you get from question to confident decision.
