How Serco is using apprenticeships to address the gender imbalance in tech

The tech sector’s gender problem is well documented. Women make up less than a quarter of the UK’s tech workforce, and the pipeline isn’t improving fast enough. For large employers operating across multiple sectors, the challenge isn’t just hiring more women into technical roles – it’s creating the conditions where they can access those opportunities in the first place.

Serco, a public services company employing thousands across justice, health, transport, and defence, has taken a deliberate approach to this challenge: using apprenticeships as a development pathway for women already in the organisation.

The thinking is straightforward. Skills gaps don’t always require external hiring. Sometimes the capability is already there – in operations teams, programme management, corporate services – it just needs structure, visibility, and permission to develop. And if the goal is to increase gender representation in technical roles, then building confidence and clearing progression barriers matters as much as the technical training itself.

This logic underpins Innovate, Serco’s women-only Level 3 Data & Business Insights apprenticeship programme, delivered in partnership with Baltic Apprenticeships. The design choices behind Innovate – and the response it generated – show how apprenticeships can be used as strategic workforce planning tools when they are intentionally designed and embedded into wider development strategies.

When 200 people apply for 14 places

When Serco opened applications for Innovate, they hoped for a decent response. What they got was 200 people attending information sessions for 14 available places.

For Karl Reed, Serco’s Head of Apprenticeships, the response confirmed what earlier conversations had suggested: there was significant unmet demand. Not simply for “tech roles”, but for a credible, supported pathway into them.

“We knew there was an appetite for something like this, but there’s always that nervousness when you launch anything new – have we got this right? Are we offering a solution to a problem that we think is possibly there?”

The scale of interest provided reassurance that the model resonated. It also reinforced Serco’s decision to focus on internal development rather than external recruitment alone.

Importantly, Innovate did not emerge in isolation.

The programme builds directly on Empower, Serco’s women-focused leadership apprenticeship (Levels 3 and 5), which had already attracted over 180 applications per cohort. That earlier success established two things: first, that there was appetite for structured, women-centric development programmes; and second, that the cohort model – bringing women together to learn, rather than studying in isolation – had real value.

Innovate applies the same principles to a different skills gap: data and digital capability.

The problem: capable people, unclear pathways

The issue wasn’t a lack of talent. It was a lack of access.

As Nikki Williams, Head of Programme Operations and a board member of Serco’s Women in Tech network, explained:

“It’s shocking the number of technical roles that we advertise and we don’t get a single female applicant. Women don’t feel that they are empowered to even apply.”

That gap wasn’t limited to external candidates. Even within Serco, women working with data every day – in corporate services, operational teams, programme management – often didn’t see themselves as “technical” or see formal qualifications as attainable.

Early discussions explored how to support women into technical roles more broadly, including potential externally focused programmes designed to introduce people to careers in tech.

As those conversations developed, the focus shifted toward a different opportunity: the potential already within Serco’s existing workforce.

“Could we use apprenticeships to support women already within Serco?”

This reframing placed internal development, confidence-building, and visibility at the centre of the programme’s design.

Why apprenticeships? And why this model?

Serco chose to structure Innovate around a Level 3 Data & Business Insights apprenticeship to create a consistent, recognised pathway into data and digital capability.

Starting at Level 3 was a deliberate decision. It provides an accessible entry point for colleagues from a wide range of roles, while offering clear progression through Level 4 and Level 5, and onward into emerging specialisms such as AI. Participants gain a recognised qualification alongside a visible route for continued development.

The apprenticeship framework also ensures that learning time is formally built into the programme. Participants are allocated the equivalent of six hours per week for off-the-job learning, covering live delivery, self-study, workplace projects, and attendance at programme events. This creates shared expectations and consistent support across the organisation.

To deliver this model at scale, Serco chose Baltic Apprenticeships as a specialist provider. The focus was on shaping an apprenticeship structure that could support a closed cohort, provide continuity of coaching, and flex around the realities of very different operational roles across the organisation.

Designing for women, not just enrolling them

Serco was clear that Innovate should not be “a data course with women on it”. The programme was deliberately designed around the specific barriers women face in technical careers.

Key elements include:

• Closed cohort delivery – 14 women, all from within Serco, learning together across 12-15 months
• Cross-business unit intake – participants might work in prisons, hospitals, HR, or immigration services, broadening perspectives and networks
• Women-focused workshops – including sessions on Women’s Health in Tech, personal branding, and a panel discussion titled Breaking Barriers & Building Futures
• In-person launch and graduation events – creating shared milestones and strengthening long-term networks
• A dedicated female coach – Baltic Apprenticeships assigned an expert female data coach to support the cohort throughout, providing continuity and a consistent point of contact as participants applied learning in very different contexts

The cohort model was central to the programme’s intent. Serco had already seen its impact through Empower. As Karl explained:

“If you’re bringing a cohort of 14 colleagues together, all women, all working in data, you’ve immediately got a small network. That takes away that silo thinking – you’re not on your own.”

Nikki, who is completing her own Level 7 apprenticeship, spoke from experience:

“There’s nothing worse than feeling isolated. Having people on your cohort that you can bounce ideas off, who are going through very similar conflicts – it gives you that safe space.”

Why data? And why now?

The focus on data capability reflects a wider shift within Serco toward evidence-led decision-making:

“Data and AI are going to be the two things that see the most investment and growth over the next 24-48 months. Anyone with a Serco laptop is contributing to data across the business.”

Crucially, Serco doesn’t view data skills as the preserve of IT specialists. The programme was opened to women in any role, not just those in DDAT (Digital, Data and Technology) teams. The aim was to challenge assumptions about who “belongs” in data work and to make skills development visible to people who might not have considered it before.

This also reflects how data skills transfer. Because Serco operates across such varied contexts – from managing prisons to running hospital services – the cohort model lets participants see how the same analytical thinking applies in completely different settings.

As Karl put it:

“We’re all part of Serco, but we come from very different business units with very different demands. That’s the beauty of it – you can really understand how your skills can transfer.”

What does success look like?

At this stage, Serco is careful not to overstate outcomes. For the first cohort, success is defined pragmatically – 14 women starting and 14 women finishing, and everyone feeling that they’ve moved on from the start of the programme.

Beyond completion rates, there are two broader aims.

First, immediate application, said Nikki:

“They can use it in their everyday job – and it’ll enhance their everyday job.”

The skills aren’t theoretical – they’re designed to have impact from day one.

Second, longer-term confidence and progression.

“Once you’ve got that barrier broken – ‘I can do something, I can complete a course’ – then you think, right, what’s the next step?”

Serco has already mapped out progression pathways: Level 3 can lead to Level 4, then Level 5, then potentially specialisation in AI or advanced analytics.

But perhaps the most telling measure of success would be cultural – more women feeling empowered to apply for technical roles in the first place:

“That would be good to see – an increased amount of internal applicants to data roles or tech roles. That you get that courage and ability to apply.”

For Serco, having a delivery partner experienced in cohort-based data apprenticeships also enabled Innovate to launch with confidence. With the delivery model, progression routes, and learner support structure already established, Serco could focus on engagement, culture, and long-term workforce planning rather than delivery risk.

Thinking about apprenticeships differently

Serco’s approach shows how apprenticeships can be embedded into wider workforce planning – supporting inclusion, internal progression, and long-term skills development.

Baltic Apprenticeships partners with employers to design and deliver apprenticeship programmes aligned to organisational strategy, with a focus on cohort-based delivery, progression pathways, and sustained learner support.

For employers considering how apprenticeships could play a more strategic role, further insight and guidance is available.