Allied Health Professions

Training routes · Employed and paid

Allied health degree apprenticeships

13 apprenticeship standards let you train for all 15 allied health career paths on this site while employed by an NHS trust and paid a salary. They run from 2 years to 4 years. Training is funded up to £27,000 per apprentice, paid by the employer rather than by you. You finish with the same registration as a full-time student, and no tuition debt.

13 Approved standards Published apprenticeship standards covering an allied health profession
15 Professions covered Out of 15 career paths on this site
£27,000 Funding band maximum Highest band in the set; the lowest is £19,000
124 Apprenticeship courses listed Approved programmes delivered by the apprenticeship route

How an allied health degree apprenticeship actually works

You are not a student who happens to work. You are an employee — almost always of an NHS trust, sometimes of a hospice, a local authority or an independent provider — who is released to study. The employer recruits you into a substantive post, pays you a salary from the first day, and pays the university out of the apprenticeship levy. You spend part of each week in academic study and the rest working, and your placement hours are served across services rather than in a single block away from your job.

The qualification at the end is not a lesser one. These are integrated degree apprenticeships: the regulator-approved degree is itself the assessment, so there is no separate end-point assessment bolted on afterwards, and the degree has to be approved by the same regulator that approves the full-time route. You come out registrable on exactly the same terms as somebody who took the full-time route — same protected title, same scope of practice, same starting band.

The funding figures on this page are the maximum the government funding band pays towards your training. They are not your salary, and they are not money that passes through your hands. A levy-paying employer draws the cost from its levy account; a smaller employer pays a share and the government covers the rest. What you are paid is set by the band the post was advertised at, which the employer decides — see NHS pay bands for what those bands are worth.

Every standard, compared

The standards sit at level 6 and 7. Level 6 is a bachelor’s degree; level 7 is a master’s. Duration is the typical time the standard states, worked alongside the job rather than taken full time; some standards run to the same length as the full-time route and some run longer.

Allied health apprenticeship standards
Standard Reference Level Typical duration Funding maximum Leads to
Arts therapist ST0633 7 2 years £19,000 Art therapist , Dramatherapist , Music therapist
Diagnostic radiographer ST0619 6 3 years £24,000 Diagnostic radiographer
Dietitian ST0599 6 4 years £24,000 Dietitian
Occupational therapist ST0517 6 4 years £24,000 Occupational therapist
Operating department practitioner ST0582 6 4 years £26,000 Operating department practitioner
Orthoptist ST1272 6 3 years £25,000 Orthoptist
Osteopath ST1462 6 4 years £27,000 Osteopath
Paramedic ST0567 6 3 years £27,000 Paramedic
Physiotherapist ST0519 6 4 years £24,000 Physiotherapist
Podiatrist ST0493 6 4 years £24,000 Podiatrist
Prosthetist and orthotist ST0601 6 4 years £24,000 Prosthetist/orthotist
Speech and language therapist ST0618 6 4 years £26,000 Speech and language therapist
Therapeutic radiographer ST0620 6 3 years £24,000 Therapeutic radiographer

The standards in detail

Level 7

Arts therapist

HCPC registration as an art therapist/art psychotherapist, dramatherapist or music therapist, depending on the pathway taken

Level 72 yearsUp to £19,000ST0633
Level 6

Diagnostic radiographer

HCPC registration as a diagnostic radiographer

Level 63 yearsUp to £24,000ST0619
Level 6

Dietitian

HCPC registration as a dietitian

Level 64 yearsUp to £24,000ST0599
Level 6

Occupational therapist

HCPC registration as an occupational therapist, and eligibility for professional membership of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists

Level 64 yearsUp to £24,000ST0517
Level 6

Operating department practitioner

HCPC registration as an operating department practitioner

Level 64 yearsUp to £26,000ST0582
Level 6

Orthoptist

HCPC registration as an orthoptist

Level 63 yearsUp to £25,000ST1272
Level 6

Osteopath

Registration with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) as an osteopath

Level 64 yearsUp to £27,000ST1462
Level 6

Paramedic

HCPC registration as a paramedic

Level 63 yearsUp to £27,000ST0567
Level 6

Physiotherapist

HCPC registration as a physiotherapist, and eligibility for full membership and chartered status with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

Level 64 yearsUp to £24,000ST0519
Level 6

Podiatrist

HCPC registration as a chiropodist/podiatrist

Level 64 yearsUp to £24,000ST0493
Level 6

Prosthetist and orthotist

HCPC registration as a prosthetist/orthotist

Level 64 yearsUp to £24,000ST0601
Level 6

Speech and language therapist

HCPC registration as a speech and language therapist

Level 64 yearsUp to £26,000ST0618
Level 6

Therapeutic radiographer

HCPC registration as a therapeutic radiographer

Level 63 yearsUp to £24,000ST0620

Which professions have a standard, and which do not

You can train by apprenticeship

Art therapist, Diagnostic radiographer, Dietitian, Dramatherapist, Music therapist, Occupational therapist, Operating department practitioner, Orthoptist, Osteopath, Paramedic, Physiotherapist, Podiatrist, Prosthetist/orthotist, Speech and language therapist and Therapeutic radiographer. Each links through to the standard that covers it.

Carry on from here

Where this page’s data comes from

Levels, reference numbers, durations and funding bands are taken from the published apprenticeship standards register; the profession list and the course count come from the regulator’s approved-programme register. Standards are revised and funding bands are reviewed — check the standard’s own page before you rely on a figure.