Big news! Our fully funded pharmacy technician apprenticeship training is back!
We’re delighted to announce the return of the levy gifting in collaboration with Buttercups Training and the PHOENIX Group!
In 2025, we announced our apprenticeship levy gifting initiative to support our members in England with fully funded apprenticeship training for pharmacy technicians, securing £500,000 in levy gifting funds.
When the campaigns first launched, the response was immediate and strong. Within just one day, the demand for apprenticeship places outstripped the funds available. This reaction showed how much community pharmacies are eager and ready to invest in their teams when funds are accessible.
Buttercups worked closely with applicants to process applications and allocate as many funded places as possible. Meanwhile, they also reached out to other large organisations to see if more levy gifting funds could be secured.
We ran two phases throughout the year and between them, 150 individual Numark member pharmacies benefited from the funds. A total of 172 apprentices enrolled on the Buttercups pharmacy technician apprenticeship programme. Altogether, we helped secure over £1.3 million to fund this training.
This level of support means real opportunity for community pharmacies to grow their senior teams and invest in long-term skills development—all without worrying about where the training budget will come from.
Get ready for phase 3 launching soon!
We are thrilled to announce the third phase of Numark’s levy gifting initiative, in collaboration with Buttercups Training and the PHOENIX Group will soon be open! Designed to support pharmacy teams with fully funded apprenticeships and following unprecedented demand in previous phases, we initially aimed to gift £500,000 but ultimately doubled the target thanks to pledges from large organisations, with over £1 million to be available for 2026!
Applications for the third phase will open on Wednesday 4th March at 12:00 (midday).
To help you prepare, we encourage members to complete the following checklist before applying:
- Identify the apprenticeship candidate within your team
- Confirm the candidate’s workplace training supervisor
- Set up a Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) account if you don’t already have one
Completing this checklist will help make your application process smooth and efficient and Buttercups have created resources to support.
Got a question?
If you have a question about our Levy Gifting partnership, take a look at our FAQs page, or get in touch with us via the chat box in the bottom right corner.
Numark Chairman, Professor Harry McQuillan shares his excitement:
“The pharmacy technician workforce is critical to community pharmacy’s future success and to support this Numark has again teamed up with Buttercups to make available fully funded training places through our innovative use of apprenticeship levy gifting. To be able to provide a second round of fully funded places to our members is fantastic and meets everything that Numark stands for.”
How to get involved
Details on how to get involved will be available soon, so make sure you keep your eye out for updates.