Apprenticeship - Public Health Practitioner Apprentice

How You'll Make a Difference

As a Public Health Practitioner Degree Apprentice, you will play a key role in improving the health and wellbeing of communities across South Gloucestershire, while developing valuable professional skills and experience. Working within our Public Health and Wellbeing division, you will support the design and delivery of initiatives that tackle health inequalities, promote healthier lifestyles and respond to local public health priorities. This three-year apprenticeship offers a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to the study of public health, drawing on social, human, biomedical, environmental and political sciences. Throughout the programme, there is a focus on understanding the wider determinants of health, issues of equity and social justice, a critical approach to evidence and data and applying learning to public health practice within South Gloucestershire Council.

What You Will Be Doing

Working alongside experienced colleagues, you will contribute to a wide range of public health projects aimed at improving population health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities across South Gloucestershire. You will support the development and review of public health services. This includes maintaining and updating information systems and databases to ensure accuracy, undertaking research, analysing and presenting data in a clear and accessible way to inform strategy and service development and producing reports to share your findings. You will have opportunities to represent the Public Health team at local events, engaging with customers, partner organisations and stakeholders to share up-to-date public health advice and information. Developing strong working relationships will be key as you will be expected to communicate effectively with colleagues, partners, stakeholders, customers and the public to ensure services are delivered effectively.

What We Need From You

We require you to hold, or be predicted to achieve, a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points from Level 3 or A-level qualifications. You must hold a minimum of three GCSEs (grade C/4 or above), Functional Skills Level 2 or an equivalent qualification, including English and maths. It is essential that you do not already hold, or be enrolled on, a degree or master’s qualification in a health or public health discipline. This programme is designed for individuals seeking to develop new knowledge, skills and behaviours in public health practice, it is expected that you will not have already completed a substantial amount of relevant prior learning. You must also not be undertaking any professional registration, such as UKPHR Practitioner or nutrition-based registration. You will demonstrate a strong interest in public health, with a genuine commitment to improving health outcomes and reducing health inequalities in South Gloucestershire You must meet the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) eligibility requirements, including: Being aged 16 years or over Being an EEA citizen (with Right to Work in the UK) Not being in any other kind of full-time education (including being enrolled on any other apprenticeship programme). You must have good literacy skills to be able to contribute to writing clear, accurate and concise reports. You will bring strong IT and numeracy skills, with the ability to accurately update public health systems and datasets. You will be highly organised, with effective project and time management skills to prioritise competing demands and meet key deadlines, including statutory requirements. You will also be able to gather and analyse information from a range of sources to produce clear, evidence-based insights that inform public health planning and decision-making.

What You Need To Know

Interviews will be held on Monday 15th or Tuesday 16th June 2026 at South Gloucestershire Council, Badminton Road Office, Yate, BS37 5AF. All candidates that successfully reach the interview stages will be required to provide a 10-minute presentation as part of the recruitment process. Candidates who do not provide a presentation at interview will not progress through the recruitment process. This role is hybrid with a mixture of working at our Badminton Road Office in Yate and homeworking for a minimum of one day per week. Depending on the work you are undertaking, you will also need to work at or visit other locations across South Gloucestershire. This is a 36-month limited term contract for the duration of the apprenticeship programme. If you are the successful candidate, you will need to complete the University West England (UWE) Bristol application form by the specified deadline and will then be invited to attend an interview. As part of this role, you must engage fully in the UWE apprenticeship degree programme, ensuring that every effort is made to attend all taught online sessions and that assignments are submitted by required deadlines. The apprenticeship starts on 7th September 2026. Therefore, we will require for the successful person to start employment with us on 1st September 2026. As part of this training route, you will need to undertake a basic skills assessment as part of the selection process. These will be emailed to you by the training provider, UWE Bristol. On successful completion of the Public Health Practitioner apprenticeship, you will achieve a BSc (Hons) Public Health degree (Level 6). You will also be eligible to apply for accreditation as a Public Health Practitioner UK Public Health Register (UKPHR). The taught degree content at UWE Bristol will be one day per week and the programme is delivered exclusively online.

How a Career At South Gloucestershire Council Is Different

As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities. We invest in the careers of our people, and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps our people make the greatest long-term difference in their work. We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities. Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here. We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of. We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life. We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential. We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference. We’re making a difference, be part of it!