A How-To-Guide for Employers (Classic view)

Note: This article applies to employers using Aptem Classic. If you are using the Employer Console, see Getting started with the Employer Console.

Overview

Your employer account gives you access to information stored within your own Organisation Profile. Learners enrolled onto a programme with your organisation will be listed in the Employer Users section of your profile.

Aptem lets all parties complete, sign, and countersign documentation electronically. Many externally funded programmes require compliance documentation to confirm registration, receive funding, and demonstrate outcomes.

Activation

You will receive an email inviting you to activate your Aptem account. Select the link in the email to activate your account and choose a username and password. Aptem will use your email address as your username by default, but you can change this.

Once you have created your username and password, you will be asked to confirm your personal details and create an electronic signature.

The employer portal

When you log in to your employer account, you will see a navigation panel containing tiles. An orange circle on a tile indicates new activity within that section. Select any tile to access the relevant function.

Navigation tiles

The following tiles may be available in your employer account:

Tile	Tile name	Purpose
	Organisation profile	View the profile page for your organisation.
	Placements / workshops	Create and edit work or learning placements and workshops.
	Candidates	View a list of candidates who have applied to placements and workshops.
	Signatures	View compliance documents that require an electronic signature from learners, employers, or administrators.
	Collaboration Centre	Send messages to Aptem users and receive notifications of progress.
	Review signatures	View compliance documents for signing or recently signed.

Organisation profile

The Organisation Profile page is the default view when you sign in to your employer account. You can also access it by selecting the Organisation profile tile. Expand each section to view or edit the relevant details:

• Details – view and edit your organisation profile.
• Contact – update existing contacts or add new ones.
• Address – add new addresses for your organisation.
• Application steps – edit the application process for a placement or workshop.
• Documents – share documents with your training provider. Select Upload to add new documents. All documents in this section are visible to Aptem administrators at your training provider.
• Employer users – lists employees in your organisation who are enrolled onto a programme. Select an individual's name to view their learning plan progress.
• Events – manage, view, add, and delete events.
• Placements / workshops – create and manage placements and workshops if this feature is enabled for your account.

Employer users

The Employer Users section of the Organisation Profile lists employees within your organisation who are enrolled onto an apprenticeship.

Monitoring employee progress on their learning plan

Each employee is enrolled onto a blended learning plan where progress and outcomes are tracked against standards comprising KSBs (knowledge, skills, and behaviours).

A learning plan is a set of learning activities that can include courses, assessments, workshops, and placements managed through Aptem, as well as external learning activities where evidence is uploaded to the learner's profile. Learning activities are mapped against criteria such as an apprenticeship standard or qualification assessment criteria. As learners complete activities, a portfolio of evidence is built showing they have met the associated criteria.

Under current DfE funding guidelines, an apprenticeship learning plan should include:

• Assessment and evidence of Level 2 Functional Skills in English and maths. A link to a third-party assessment can be added to the learning plan, or the learner can upload prior evidence of achieving GCSE grade C (or grade 5, post-2018) or equivalent.
• Regular planned progress review meetings between the training provider and the learner, automatically populated in the learner's plan and task list.
• Quarterly review meetings between the learner, their employer, and the training provider, automatically populated from the learner's programme start date.
• EPA (End-Point Assessment) gateway assessment, confirming the learner has met the assessment plan requirements, including English and maths qualifications (where applicable), on-programme mandatory qualifications (where applicable), and evidence of the required KSBs.
• EPA review. The end-point assessment can only be taken after the minimum programme duration has been completed; the earliest due date is populated automatically.

Select an employee's name in the Employer Users section to open their learner profile. Scroll down to the programme section and select Learning plan overview on the right. By default, progress is shown against programme components. Select the Apprenticeship Standard tab to view progress against the standard's criteria.

Viewing learning plan evidence

Each learning plan component has a status shown by colour:

• Grey – not started
• Blue – in progress
• Amber – imminent deadline
• Green – completed
• Red – overdue or incomplete

For components delivered through Aptem (such as courses, placements, workshops, and assessment forms), select the relevant link to start or continue that component. By default, all components are shown in collapsed view, displaying only the title and status icon. The list can be filtered by status type.

Select a component title to expand it and view instructions, deadline date (if set), percentage progress, and the option to upload evidence.

To add evidence, select Upload file or add note and choose File from the dropdown. Selecting Note allows a text comment to be added instead.

Once uploaded, the learning plan updates to show the evidence as submitted but awaiting approval. The learner's case owner receives an email notification and a Collaboration Centre notification that evidence has been submitted. The status updates automatically once the evidence is accepted or declined.

Placements and workshops

You can create work placements if this feature is enabled for your account. A placement or workshop can represent work experience, industrial experience, a training workshop, temporary work, or a place on an external course.

The system allows multiple placement positions at your organisation for a given period. Learners can be enrolled until all positions are filled. If you offer different types of work experience (for example, warehouse and office work), create a separate placement for each. If you offer placements across different time periods, create a new placement for each period.

Select the Placements / workshops tile to view, edit, delete, or create placements. To create a new placement, select Create. The Add placement / workshop page opens:

1. Select the type of work from the dropdown list.
2. Select the address and contact from the dropdown, or select + to add a new contact or address.
3. Enter a title for the placement.
4. Enter a short description of the duties involved. This is visible to learners when they are enrolled.
5. Enter the working hours. To add separate sessions (for example, morning and afternoon), select + Add another session for each period.
6. Enter the number of positions available.
7. Select Save to create the placement.

Candidates

Select the Candidates tile to view the list of learners who have applied for or been shortlisted for placements at your organisation. The list can be filtered by status and application step, and used to manage applications.

Select the title of a placement to view or edit its details and application steps.

Signatures

The Signatures tile shows how many documents require your signature. Filter the grid by setting Employer signature to No to show only documents awaiting your signature. You can also see where a learner still needs to sign.

The following columns are displayed:

• Document name – the name of the compliance document.
• Username – the learner's name.
• Case owner – the administrator assigned to the learner.
• Date – the date the document was submitted.
• User signature – whether the learner has signed the document.
• Employer signature – the name of the employer who has signed, or No if unsigned.
• Admin signature – the name of the training provider representative who has signed, or No if unsigned.

Select a learner's name to go to their profile. Scroll to the Compliance documents section and select the document you want to view. Yellow fields indicate where information can be entered. Where Employer signature shows No, select Click here to add your signature to sign the document.

Review signatures

The Review signatures tile shows all review documentation for your learners, including documents awaiting your signature and previously signed reviews.

Collaboration Centre

The Aptem Collaboration Centre lets employers and administrators communicate with learners via messages and notifications. You will receive an email notification for any new messages. When you sign in, an orange dot on the navigation panel indicates unread messages.

Employers can message any learner within their account. Learners can reply to messages from administrators, but cannot initiate messages to other learners. Select the Collaboration Centre tile to open your message list. Contacts currently online are shown with a green indicator.

Select a contact's name to view their messages or send them a new message.