Apprentice Employer of the Year Award
What makes a winner?
The Greater Lincolnshire Apprentice Employer of the Year Award 2026 seeks to acknowledge and celebrate employers’ commitment to the development of their staff through apprenticeships.
Nominations should explain how the employer demonstrates exceptional commitment to apprenticeships by providing high‑quality support, meaningful training, and clear development opportunities. The employer demonstrates how they create a positive and inclusive environment for apprentices, work effectively with partners or training providers, and make a genuine impact on apprentice progression, confidence, and skills both within their own organisation and the wider community.
In particular the judges are looking for:
- Clear partnership working with their training provider/s
- How the employer provides meaningful development opportunities to support apprenticeship achievement
- How the employer provides and supports opportunities for apprentices to progress into long term or higher level employment within the business
Who should enter?
To make an application, the employer must employ apprentices who live or work in Greater Lincolnshire, have started their apprenticeship before the 1 December 2025, or completed their Apprenticeship during the current academic year (August 1, 2025 to July 31 2026).
Completing the form
Applications for Greater Lincolnshire Apprentice Employer of the Year 2026 can be made by the organisation wishing to be considered for an award, or by another external stakeholder who wishes to nominate the employer.
You will be asked to supply a third-party endorsement to support your application, for example the training provider. Without a third-party endorsement, your application cannot be progressed to adjudication.
Please read these guidance notes carefully – they will help you to complete the application form.
Guidance on completing your application
Please complete all sections of the application form. Incomplete entries will not be progressed to the judging stage.
Forms should be completed and submitted using the online form.
Please observe and adhere to the character limit where these apply. The online form will not accept submissions beyond this limit.
The application form is split into four sections:
- Section 1 – Contact Information
- Section 2 – Background Information
- Section 3 – Application
- Section 4 – Third Party Endorsement
Please ensure that you follow the guidance notes as this will enable you to provide the information that the judges need. All entries will be treated in the strictest of confidence.
Section One – Contact Information
In this section, we will ask the primary contact for the entry and for publicity purposes. We will ask if you are an employee of the organisation that is being nominated or not. If not, there will be further contact information to complete on the following page. We will use this information to confirm eligibility of your business to be included in consideration for the awards.
We will also ask for a Third Party Endorsement. The Third Party must have a professional relationship with the employer that is being nominated. Please note the endorsement will count towards 25% of the overall mark for this category. The application will not be accepted without the third party endorsement.
We will ask for employer details and registered company address.
Section Two – Employer Background Information
You are asked to provide the judges with information about the organisation you are nominating, its size, the sector it operates in, the number of apprentices that it employs. We will also ask for information on the apprenticeship standards that are undertaken at this organisation and for a brief overview of the organisation’s operations in Greater Lincolnshire.
Please note, this section will not be scored, but will help the judges to assess the nomination.
Section Three - Application
Please answer all questions as fully as possible. Include evidence such as quotes from clients, staff/apprentices, statistics, comparative data, etc. Remember the judges will be looking for evidence of achievement, commitment, business benefits from skills investment and best practice/transferability.
Question 1 – Explain the organisation's approach to apprenticeships within the organisation in Greater Lincolnshire (25%)
In this question, the judges will be looking to understand the organisation’s rationale for employing apprentices. You could describe the way apprenticeship standards are selected and embedded within the organisation to support business and staff development, recruitment or to support succession planning. (Max 2,500 characters)
Question 2 - Describe the benefits that apprenticeships have brought to the organisation and their apprentices in Greater Lincolnshire (25%)
The judges will be looking for evidence of how the business and/or apprentices have benefited from apprenticeships. This may include specific examples of how they support apprentices with career progression, promotion and overcoming barriers to learning and work. For benefits to the organisation, you could consider examples of the benefits gained as a result e.g., business growth and improved retention of specialist and skilled staff. (Max 2,500 characters)
Question 3 – Explain what makes this Greater Lincolnshire apprenticeship programme outstanding, and how it helps more people take part (25%)
You could detail the opportunities available within the organisation for apprentices to develop skills, knowledge and experience and to progress within the organistion or sector, and contribute to the locality in which the organisation is based. You could also detail the ways in which the organistaion supports individual apprentices to achieve and overcome barriers. (Max 2,500 characters)
At this stage, you will be asked to submit your form and complete your declaration to confirm that you have the consent of the nominee to be nominated for Employer of the Year Award 2026.
A notification will be sent to your nominated third-party endorser, attaching a copy of Section Two Background Information and your answers to Section Three Application. This information is shared to enable the endorser to fully complete their part of the application.
If the third-party endorsement is not received, then your application cannot be progressed to adjudication.
Section Four – Third Party Endorsement
This question asks for a third-party endorsement to support your application for consideration as Greater Lincolnshire Apprentice Employer of the Year Award 2026. The third-party endorsement should come from a representative of an organisation who has a professional relationship with the nominated employer, for example a training provider or supply chain business. An individual can nominate the organisation; if this is an apprentice employed within the organisation they must have been on programme since 1st December 2025 or completed their apprenticeship during the 25/26 academic year (1/8/25-31/-7/26). Your endorser should be based in Greater Lincolnshire.
Endorsers will be asked to confirm their organisation, role and contact details so that the endorsement can be verified.
Endorsement question – Why do you think that this employer should be considered for the Greater Lincolnshire Apprentice Employer of the Year Award 2026 (25%)?
In your answer, your endorser should outline the aspects of the employer’s approach to Greater Lincolnshire apprenticeships that you consider to be exceptional. This could include the opportunities that the employer makes available for apprentice development and progression, systems adopted to support apprentices overcome barriers and specific examples of where the employer has gone above and beyond to support apprentices. You could also discuss the impact that apprenticeships have had on business growth and productivity, the contribution to addressing skills gaps or staff retention. (Max 2,500 characters)
Declaration
For both applicants and endorsers, you will need to confirm that the information provided is true to the best of your knowledge.
An authorised member of staff will give consent for your organisation to be considered for Greater Lincolnshire Apprentice Employer of the Year Award 2026 confirming in the declaration that they agree to the nomination and are happy to participate in publicity activity related to the Awards.
The endorser will be asked to confirm that they support the employer’s application to be considered for Greater Lincolnshire Apprentice Employer of the Year Award 2026, and that they are happy for the information provided to be used with publicity material for the awards.
All parties will receive confirmation of the application.
Help with your application
If you require any help with your application, please email employmentandskills@lincolnshire.gov.uk
Conditions of entry
The organisers cannot accept any responsibility for loss or damage of an entry. All entries will be treated in the strictest of confidence. The judges’ decisions will be final, and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into regarding the selection of winners.
All entries will be acknowledged by email to the applicant and third party endorser email provided in the application. If you do not hear from us, please email employmentandskills@lincolnshire.gov.uk.