AI & Automation Practitioner
Turn a member of your team into the person who finds the wasted hours in your business — and builds the AI and automation solutions that get them back. No coding required.
- Level 4 · Higher Apprenticeship
- Typically 18 months incl. End-Point Assessment
- Funding band up to £18,000
- New standard — approved December 2025
Every business is losing hours to work a machine could do
Manual data entry. Copying information between systems that don’t talk to each other. Reports rebuilt from scratch every week. AI and automation tools can fix all of it — but most organisations don’t have anyone with the skills to make it happen.
- Spot the opportunities. Your apprentice learns to analyse your processes, map your workflows and find exactly where time and money are leaking.
- Build the solutions. Using low-code and no-code platforms, AI tools and integrations — practical builds, not theory.
- Bring your people with them. Responsible, ethical adoption — training colleagues, managing change and keeping your data safe.
A structured journey from discovery to delivery
Delivered through expert-led sessions alongside guided workplace application, the programme moves through four phases — each one building the skills your business will feel.
Discovery & Foundations
- What AI & automation can (and can’t) do
- Finding inefficiencies & opportunities
- Process & workflow mapping
- Responsible AI, GDPR & ethics
- Project framing & change readiness
Design & Build
- Designing AI solutions for real needs
- Evaluating tools & platforms
- Data foundations for automation
- Prompt engineering
- Building AI agents & integrations
Deployment & Scale
- Testing, evaluation & iteration
- Monitoring risk & bias in AI systems
- Scaling solutions across the business
- Governance, compliance & documentation
Strategy & Assessment
- Workforce enablement & training others
- Measuring productivity & value delivered
- Workplace improvement project
- End-Point Assessment preparation
The centrepiece: a real improvement project, in your business
The apprenticeship is built around an employer-validated workplace project. Your apprentice identifies a genuine inefficiency in your organisation, designs and builds the automation that fixes it, and measures the savings — so the programme delivers tangible operational value before it even finishes.
Built for the people who run your processes — not programmers
Who it suits
- Existing staff in operations, admin, service delivery, customer support, finance or project roles who know your processes inside out
- New hires brought in to drive digital improvement
- Anyone curious about AI with the drive to solve problems — no coding or technical background required
Typical roles this develops: process automation analyst, digital operations technician, workflow solutions assistant, AI integration officer, digital productivity consultant.
Skills & tools covered
The details at a glance
A new Level 4 apprenticeship standard, approved for delivery in December 2025.
Equivalent to the first year of a degree.
Including the End-Point Assessment.
Structured tutor-led learning with guided off-the-job tasks applied to your business between sessions.
Centred on a real workplace improvement project, validated by you as the employer.
Most employers use this to upskill people already in the business. No upper age limit.
Funding: the funding band for this apprenticeship is up to £18,000. Levy-paying employers fund it directly from their levy account. Non-levy employers typically pay just 5%, with the government covering 95% — and full funding may be available in some circumstances. Check your funding position or ask us and we’ll confirm exactly what it means for you.
A training partner, not just a provider
Award-winning delivery
An established, award-winning apprenticeship provider delivering high-quality training to businesses across England for over a decade.
Personal tutor support
Small enough to care, experienced enough to deliver — your apprentice gets a dedicated tutor who knows them and your business.
Built around your business
We take time to understand your processes and goals, so the learning — and the workplace project — targets what will genuinely move the needle for you.
Frequently asked questions
Does my team member need a technical background?
No. The standard is designed for non-technical staff and is built around low-code and no-code tools. What matters is curiosity, problem-solving and a good understanding of how your business works — the programme teaches the rest.
Can we enrol existing staff, or is it only for new hires?
Both. Apprenticeships are one of the most cost-effective ways to upskill people already in your business — and existing staff often get the most out of this programme because they already know where your inefficiencies are. There is no upper age limit.
What will it cost us?
The funding band is up to £18,000. If you pay the apprenticeship levy, training is funded from your levy account. If you don’t, the government typically covers 95% and you contribute 5% — and in some circumstances full funding is available. The apprentice pays nothing. Use our funding checker or get in touch and we’ll confirm your position.
How much time away from work does it involve?
Apprentices spend a portion of their working hours on off-the-job learning — structured sessions plus guided tasks applied directly to your business. Because those tasks centre on improving your own processes, much of the “learning time” produces work of direct value to you.
What is the End-Point Assessment?
Every apprenticeship finishes with an independent End-Point Assessment. For this standard it is built around a project — a real workplace improvement your apprentice delivers in your organisation — alongside further assessment methods set by the assessment organisation. We prepare apprentices for this throughout the programme, not just at the end.
Is using AI in our business safe and compliant?
Responsible adoption runs through the whole programme. Your apprentice learns data protection and GDPR, AI governance, bias monitoring, security and ethical implementation — so automation is introduced safely, transparently and in line with your policies.
Ready to build AI capability inside your business?
Tell us about your organisation and we’ll talk you through how the AI & Automation Practitioner apprenticeship could work for your team — including exactly what funding you can access.
Prefer email? info@ntgtraining.co.uk
