How to Enter

The entry process for The Sunday Times Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers has been designed to be simple and straightforward for apprenticeship employers to complete.

Entries are open to apprenticeship employers with a minimum of 100 employees in the UK, that employ 10 apprentices or more in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Every employer entering in 2025 will be ranked within their own industry or employment sector - and will receive feedback on their entry, benchmarking their apprenticeship programmes with other entrants.

To enter for the rankings, employers complete a short entry form, providing the following key information about their apprentices:

• how many apprentices started an apprenticeship between 1st January and 31st December 2024 (including those recruited externally and existing employees) and at which level of apprenticeship
• the diversity of apprentices who began apprenticeships during 2024 (including apprentices' gender, age, ethnicity and learning difficulties & disabilities)
• the number of apprentices who successfully completed their apprenticeships in the past year

Employers are also asked to confirm their total number of UK employees – and the number of employees who are currently on apprenticeship programmes.

The entry fee for the 2025 rankings is £395+VAT, which can be paid by invoice or credit card.

Once the entry has been submitted, employers take part in follow-up data checks by email or telephone to confirm and verify the information provided. Each entry is then independently assessed, scored, and weighted according to the size of the employer's UK workforce.

The one hundred employers with the highest scores will form The Sunday Times Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers for 2025.

Entries close at 5pm on Monday 31st March and the new rankings will be featured in The Sunday Times in the summer.