New Engineering Apprenticeship Units — Levy Funded. Available Now.
The Engineering Skills That Your Business Needs. Funded Through Your Apprenticeship Levy.
Traditional apprenticeships take 12 months or more. For many engineering businesses, that timeline does not match the urgency of the skills gap in front of them. Apprenticeship units are a new government-funded option — short, targeted programmes delivering specific engineering skills in as little as two weeks. They are not designed to replace apprenticeships. They exist for employers who need to close a skills gap now, bring a new hire up to standard quickly, or respond to a new technical requirement before it becomes a problem.
UK manufacturing and engineering businesses face a persistent and expensive problem. It is not a shortage of experienced people. It is the gap in structured knowledge that sits underneath their experience.
Operatives who have learned on the job may not have a secure grounding in reading technical drawings, applying correct tolerances, selecting the right materials, or carrying out systematic quality checks. Electrical teams may lack the documented, demonstrable competence that compliance increasingly demands. That gap shows up as rework, non-conformance, downtime, and safety incidents — and it costs more to fix than it would have cost to prevent.
These Apprenticeship units will be developed to fit with your core competencies as we do now with our commercial training. They will be appropriate to your industry and agreed with you in advance of the training commencing.
Qualitrain Engineering Academy is now approved to deliver two new engineering units, confirmed by Skills England in March 2026. Register your interest below to be first in line for places.
Mechanical Fitting and Assembly — AU0003
Employed engineering operatives and technicians aged 19 and over who work in mechanical fitting and assembly roles. It is particularly well suited to:
- Operatives who have built up years of practical experience but have never had structured training to underpin it
- Technicians taking on more complex assembly work who need to develop their technical knowledge base
- Employers onboarding experienced hires who need to align with your standards and processes quickly
- Engineering teams where inconsistent output quality has been identified as an operational issue
- Employers who are introducing new products or services and need to upskill staff to meet the needs of the market
Eight functional areas: Health and Safety; Interpreting Documentation; Planning and Organisation; Selecting Tools and Equipment; Measuring and Marking Out; Mechanical Fitting and Assembly; Fault Finding; Quality Checks.
Duration: 2 to 16 weeks (70 tutor-led hours). 2 weeks would be full time training to achieve the required hours, we can deliver this way but we expect most customers would look for 1-2 days per week which will extend the duration. Completion is via a skills test delivered by the training provider, with employer validation. External assessment is also available.
This unit is government-funded for both levy and non-levy paying employers under the latest funding rules published in April 2026. If you pay the Apprenticeship Levy, you can use your existing levy account directly. If you do not pay the levy, government funding is still available to you and your costs are significantly reduced as a result.
The levy funding for this course is set at £1,650 per person.
Electrical Fitting and Assembly — AU0005
Employed engineering operatives and technicians aged 19 and over who work in electrical roles. It is particularly well suited to:
- Electrical operatives with strong practical skills whose underpinning technical knowledge has never been formally assessed
- Technicians moving into more complex assembly work including panel wiring, control systems, and multi-core cabling
- Employers that have identified inconsistent electrical assembly quality and need to address root cause rather than symptoms
- Employers subject to compliance requirements where demonstrable, documented competence is essential
- Employers who are introducing new products or services and need to upskill staff to meet the needs of the market
Eight functional areas: Health and Safety; Interpreting Documentation; Planning and Organisation; Selecting Tools and Equipment; Electrical Cabling; Electrical Fitting and Assembly; Testing; Fault Finding.
This unit is government-funded for both levy and non-levy paying employers under the latest funding rules published in April 2026. If you pay the Apprenticeship Levy, you can use your existing levy account directly. If you do not pay the levy, government funding is still available to you and your costs are significantly reduced as a result.
The levy funding for this course is set at £1,650 per person.
Why Qualitrain Engineering Academy
Qualitrain Engineering Academy is part of the Qualitrain Group, with over 15 years of experience developing and delivering engineering and manufacturing training across the UK. Based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, we deliver engineering apprenticeships, bespoke short courses, in-house training for engineering, and core competency assessment and training in rail, welding, and engineering.
Our tutors and assessors bring a wealth of experience both working and teaching in engineering and manufacturing environments. They do not just teach the standard — they have done the job. That real-world background translates directly into training that sticks.
We can deliver the training at your site, at our academy in Alfreton, or at our dedicated rail engineering workshop at Barrow Hill Roundhouse in Chesterfield — a heritage rail facility that gives our learners access to fluid power, heavy engineering, diesel and electric motors, and specialist rail industry equipment including bogies, traction units, braking systems, and door operating systems.
Our track record with major employers in the engineering sector includes having trained and assessed over 3,000 employees with integrated qualifications-achieving over a 90% pass rate.
Unlike colleges, we deliver training during industry working hours and open our doors to new learners every 3 weeks. We understand that the need for new skills does not fit neatly around academic timetables.
These two new apprenticeship units are a natural extension of what we already do — short, targeted, and government-funded, designed for employers who need to develop their existing workforce quickly and without the commitment of a full programme.
