Linsday Talks – Product Manager for Heating & Plumbing at JTL – about the new Level 3 Plumbing and Domestic Heating Technician Apprenticeship which will be available from September 2019.

After a lot of work going through Trailblazer discussions and taking on board the comments of people across the industry – but mainly those of employers who have had a major input to shaping the new apprenticeship standard – here at JTL we’re ready to introduce the new four-year Level 3 Plumbing and Domestic Heating Technician Apprenticeship which will be introduced from September 2019. The apprenticeship will be available in selected JTL centres and via many of our college partners around England and Wales.

Feedback from across the industry required better qualified apprentices with a wider range of skills and deeper knowledge levels, leading to a level 3 qualification. There are four different routes available, that should see more apprentices qualifying in the important gas side of the business, than has previously been the case. The current Level 2 and Level 3 Plumbing qualifications will continue to be available until July 2020 with many colleges offering all three qualification routes.

The new four-year course enables apprentices to effectively combine several roles in the one apprenticeship. JTL’s new apprenticeship combines a variety of courses that were previously individual QCF/NQF qualifications including:

• Plumbing,
• Domestic Heating Engineer,
• Domestic Heating Installer,
• Plumbing and Domestic Heating Installer and
• Plumbing and Domestic Heating Engineer.

The new qualification will cover all of these previously separate qualifications in the one final qualification achieved at the end of the apprenticeship. The training received will include additional Maths and English and there will be tests at the end of each year of the course to confirm apprentices are making good progress. All apprentices will complete an independent End Point Assessment at the end of their course before the Level 3 apprenticeship can be completed successfully.

We hope that employers who recognise us as the largest training provider in the Building Services Engineering sector, know they are in safe hands working with us, as we steer them through the changes, sharing our expertise. The new Standard will extend the offer we make to employers and to the young people we work with on apprenticeships, producing better qualified plumbing and domestic heating technicians, that genuinely meet the changing demands of the sector.

From September, apprentices will be able to take one course that qualifies them for several career roles as they choose one of the four options available to them. The new Level 3 apprenticeship offers them a choice of four pathways

– Fossil fuel – Natural Gas,

– Fossil fuel – oil,

– Fossil fuel – Solid Fuel and

– Environmental Technologies – which offers training in work with solar thermal, heat pumps and water recycling systems.

Here at JTL we are proud to offer a comprehensive support package for apprentices and employers with more than 130 full time Training Officers based across England and Wales, giving every apprentice a named and known Training Officer to guide them through their apprenticeship.

The Training Officers are also there importantly, to help the employers make sure the apprenticeship journey is as smooth and straightforward as possible. JTL works alongside more than 100 colleges of further education and through its own dedicated training centres to provide the relevant training aspects of apprenticeships.

If you want to know more, register your interest in the new plumbing apprenticeships, please contact JTL’s Customer Service Unit on 0800 085 2308 or email us at info@jtltraining.com.