Heart of the North East

Baltic Apprenticeships have a dedicated city-centre hub in the Catalyst, located in the heart of the Newcastle Helix development. The Catalyst is home to the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) and brings together industry leaders, businesses and researchers in a unique collaborative space.

The Catalyst is a beacon for the region’s health, technology and business community to connect, network and share ideas. From this base, our expert advisors at Baltic have dived into the conversation and will be on hand to help local businesses grow their future talent.

The North East has the highest youth unemployment rate in England. At the same time, 30% of our region’s creative, digital and tech businesses report that access to appropriately skilled labour is a problem. The solution is clear. We need to equip our young people with the skills, passion, and opportunity they need to thrive.

Our Level 1 pre-apprenticeship programme provides the initial spark to ignite a lifelong career in digital technologies. We bring in young people who aren’t in education, employment or training and equip them with basic skills in IT and Digital Marketing.

From this foundation, we’ll work with promising young people to help them achieve their dream digital career – whether that means finding them an apprenticeship right away, or putting them through further skills training with our partners at RAW Digital Training.

Skills development is at the heart of everything we do. We work with employers to understand their immediate and long-term skill needs and channel this directly into the technical training we offer.

Through this ongoing skills conversation with North East businesses, we identified a growing regional demand for data skills. As a result, we introduced our brand new data training route.

Our innovative approach to apprenticeship training is bringing a host of opportunities to those who may have previously considered a career in tech to be out of reach.

Apprenticeships are one of the most cost-effective forms of training currently available, with lots of available funding opportunities.

From SMEs to large Levy-paying organisations, there are a range of government incentives available for apprentice employers of all sizes. For many SMEs, government funding could cover between 95% and 100% of training fees.

Our team will help you navigate the world of apprenticeship funding, empowering you to make the most of national and local financial support.

Our apprenticeship programmes follow national Apprenticeship Standards, created in consultation with industry leaders including Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, BT and the NHS.

Each programme we offer follows standards and assessment plans tailored to specific job roles.

Our apprentices are supported throughout their training by dedicated Baltic Learning Mentors to ensure they develop an in-depth understanding of their course content and are well prepared for their independent End Point Assessment.

Our region's tech sector can only continue to grow with a solid supply of future tech talent.

Our apprenticeship programmes have been developed with employers in mind, and evolve according to the skills you tell us you need most. 

We aim to make a significant impact on the North East's skills gap, futureproofing your talent pipeline while helping young people break into the digital and tech sector.

We're always looking to contribute to the region’s skills conversation, share our expertise, and listen to new ideas. We’re active members of several North East tech and business networks, including Dynamo, Digital Union and The North East Chamber of Commerce.

At Baltic Apprenticeships we are a friendly bunch. We love to meet new people and build up long term working relationships with our customers.

Our customers are never 'just a number' to us. We welcome our apprentices and their employers to our growing Baltic community, with regular updates and tailored one-to-one support.

Keep your eyes peeled for our North East team of Employment Engagement Managers at a (virtual) event near you! We also run a regular series of webinars to start conversations around different areas of tech, share our knowledge on skills building, and celebrate amazing people from across the region.