Painting and Decorating Apprenticeships

Discover how a Bagnalls’ apprenticeship could kickstart your career.

Find Out More

Each September, we recruit apprentices at each of our 12 branches to undertake the Intermediate (Level 2) Apprenticeship in Painting and Decorating. This is a two-year course, with an end-point assessment taken on completion that includes a practical skills demonstration, knowledge test and presentation of a portfolio with an accompanying discussion.

We will support you throughout your apprenticeship and make sure that you have all the skills and knowledge required to achieve your Level 2 qualification.

Following completion of the intermediate course, we offer the opportunity to progress onto the Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) in Painting and Decorating. This 18-month course is an enhanced apprenticeship that should be available from 2024 onwards.

All apprentices receive a tool bag when they start at Bagnalls, as well as bespoke workwear. We’ve worked with our personal protective equipment (PPE) supplier to ensure that the PPE and workwear we provide to our female apprentices is specifically designed for them so that they too can be comfortable and safe whilst working on site.

We want to make sure all our people are safe at work and feel supported to do their best. We can provide transport from a pick-up point to the relevant site or we can cover the costs of public transport.

Recruitment

The recruitment period normally spans from May to July each year. We advertise all apprenticeship roles on our website.

We ask that all candidates have the following:

  • GCSEs in English and Maths at Grade 3 (C) or above, or equivalent qualification (please talk to us if your grades are below this to discuss whether we can support you to join Bagnalls).
  • A commitment to a career in painting and decorating.
  • The ability to deliver a great service to our customers.

We welcome candidates from a wide range of backgrounds and will support all of our new recruits to succeed. If there’s anything that would help you to do your best during our recruitment and selection process, please let us know.

We particularly encourage applications from underrepresented groups, including female candidates, individuals living with disabilities, applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds and those who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Pay

Our apprenticeship rates are in line with the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC) Working Rule Agreement:

  • Year one – £269.10 per week
  • Year two – £320.97 per week, or the National Minimum Wage for age.
  • Year three – £374.40-£478.92 per week, dependent on college progress.

Following completion of the Advanced Apprenticeship course, plus sufficient time to apply experience on-site (normally up to one year after completion), our basic pay is £598.26 per week ( £31,110 per annum). We also offer opportunities to earn a bonus.

Each year, Bagnalls awards outstanding apprentices the title of Apprentice of the Year. In recent years, our successful apprentices have been:

  • Rose Bamber (Junior) and James Connelly (Senior) 2022
  • Harley Orchard (Junior) and Nahome Demise (Senior) 2023

We have an annual celebration event for all those who have successfully completed their apprenticeships during National Apprenticeship Week in February.

Training Academy

Our Training Academy in Doncaster enables our apprentice painters to develop their skills. Joel Mortlock is the current tutor at this facility. Joel is a former painting apprentice who won paint manufacturer Johnstone’s Young Painter of the Year award in 2015.

Apprentices spend at least two weeks of each year of their apprenticeship at the academy. Apprentices say their experience at the academy gives them confidence in painting and decorating and allows them to become familiar with new products and techniques before applying them at customers’ premises.

We also give all apprentices specific training in health and safety at the academy, in recognition of the fact that those early in their careers can be at particular risk.

A maximum of six apprentices attend the academy together, meaning they can get focused feedback and support from Joel. This is particularly important in helping the apprentices to achieve the best grade they can in their end-point assessment.

We also invite those participating in competitions to additional training. The results of this are clear, with many of our apprentices winning fantastic awards.

Aspiring painters and decorators from local colleges can also attend our academy to learn about careers in the industry and practise their skills.

In 2022, the academy hosted Heritage England apprentices as they learned about traditional painting and decorating techniques to be used in historic buildings to aid preservation.

Other apprenticeships

As a proud member of The 5% Club, we’re committed to supporting people to develop skills that will help them to have a successful, rewarding career. To this end, we offer apprenticeships for a range of roles, including:

  • Level 3 Business Administrator
  • Level 4 Sales Executive (for salespeople)
  • Level 4 Construction Site Supervisor (for Management Trainees and Supervisors)
  • Level 4 Project Manager (for Management Trainees)
  • Level 5 HR Consultant Partner
  • Level 5 Operations/Departmental Manager (for our Contracts Managers)

Latest News

Bagnalls Refreshes the Exterior of the Ashton Primary Care Centre

Our North West branch recently had the pleasure of completing an exterior redecoration project for the Ashton Primary Care Centre in Ashton-under-Lyme. We love working in the […]

Read Story >

Meet Charlotte Keenan: Management Trainee

Charlotte began her career with Bagnalls as a Contract Coordinator, before joining our Management Trainee Programme. We caught up with her a year into her journey to […]

Read Story >

Bagnalls Refreshes Façade of Tameside Hospital

Bagnalls has recently completed a refresh for the rendered façade at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyme. We carried out this project for our customer, Concept to Delivery Group […]

Read Story >

150 Years of Bagnalls: Our Anniversary Celebrations!

Thursday 13th March is a historic day for Bagnalls, marking 150 years of our family business. As we begin our 151st year, we’re proud to continue to […]

Read Story >

150 Years of Bagnalls: Our Top 5 Favourite Achievements

As we celebrate 150 years of Bagnalls, our team is looking back at some of our favourite company-wide achievements of recent years. From prestigious award wins and […]

Read Story >

Our Accreditations

From safe systems of work to our environmental policies, our accreditations assure customers of our accountability and dependability in our work.

See All Accreditations
Health and Safety ISO 45001
Quality ISO 9001
Environmental ISO 14001
EcoVadis Gold
Supply Chain Sustainability School (Gold)
SSIP – Safety Schemes in Procurement
Achilles Utility Vendor Database (UVDB)
Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)
Dulux Connect
Cyber Essentials
RSSB RISQS
Women in Construction
Living Wage Employer
Family Business United
The 5% Club – Platinum Membership
RoSPA Gold