Degree Apprentice Review
at HSBC
Degree Apprenticeship
Customer Service, Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, Retail Banking
Hampshire
Review Submitted: March 2026
Overall Rating
3.4 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
-
Overview of Role
5/5
-
Skills Development
2.8/5
-
Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
5/5
Throughout my Degree Apprenticeship I held four different roles, with an increase in responsibility halfway throughout the programme. The first two roles I held were a Universal Banker in branch followed by a Project Officer in retirement advice. My last two roles were as a Team Manager (people leader) in a contact centre and lastly as a Manager (non-people leader) in a first line risk team. On a day to day basis my final role requires analysis of data to ensure accurate oversight of various risk processes, challenging where appropriate. Engaging with wider stakeholders to ensure that controls are operating effectively and reporting into monthly governance meetings. Additionally dealing with breaches within the business where controls have not operated effectively and there is a potential impact to the business/customers.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
Overall, the programme has provided me with what I wanted from it - which is to say that I have been able to build on my existing skills as well as developing brand new skills and confidence in myself and my abilities and put myself in a brilliant position to kick start the next stages of my career. For me, the ability to experience so many different areas of retail banking has allowed me to narrow down where I want to progress in my career and where I think my skills would add the most value.
However, the actual management of the programme while I have been on it has been poor. While the programme has improved dramatically, and the communication and support at the end of the programme is a world away from the quality when I began it, I can only rate the programme based on my lived experience and unfortunately the first year in particular was chaotic, disorganised, and the experience I and many others in my cohort had was *not* the experience that we were sold. There are also now extreme limitations in location base for the programme now which were not in place previously, which I think is a shame. Additionally, the university that was used for my programme was also very poor. The lecturers were generally good, but the quality of the virtual learning environment was far, far worse than what I had expected and as a result the actual self-study element of the course was not as in-depth as it should have been. That said, I believe the business has now ended the contract with the education provider I used and is now using a new university, so I cannot speak to the quality of the new provider.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my time on the programme and the roles I was fortunate enough to do were absolutely fantastic and exactly what I wanted to do (Team Management + Risk Management). Unfortunately, the experience of the actual apprenticeship side of the programme was very disorganised and as a result extremely stressful which was not a fun experience for four years. I would overall recommend the programme, just be aware that the recording of evidence against the skills you need to demonstrate as part of a Degree Apprenticeship may or may not be easy depending on the competence of the new training provider.
However, the actual management of the programme while I have been on it has been poor. While the programme has improved dramatically, and the communication and support at the end of the programme is a world away from the quality when I began it, I can only rate the programme based on my lived experience and unfortunately the first year in particular was chaotic, disorganised, and the experience I and many others in my cohort had was *not* the experience that we were sold. There are also now extreme limitations in location base for the programme now which were not in place previously, which I think is a shame. Additionally, the university that was used for my programme was also very poor. The lecturers were generally good, but the quality of the virtual learning environment was far, far worse than what I had expected and as a result the actual self-study element of the course was not as in-depth as it should have been. That said, I believe the business has now ended the contract with the education provider I used and is now using a new university, so I cannot speak to the quality of the new provider.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my time on the programme and the roles I was fortunate enough to do were absolutely fantastic and exactly what I wanted to do (Team Management + Risk Management). Unfortunately, the experience of the actual apprenticeship side of the programme was very disorganised and as a result extremely stressful which was not a fun experience for four years. I would overall recommend the programme, just be aware that the recording of evidence against the skills you need to demonstrate as part of a Degree Apprenticeship may or may not be easy depending on the competence of the new training provider.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
I have learned excellent people leadership and management skills, risk management skills, some project management skills, and general 'corporate career' skills such as presenting to senior stakeholders.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
As already mentioned in another box, the overall structure of the programme was very poorly organised. Me and my cohort did not find out our new placements each year until a few weeks before we were due to start them. The overall structure from the training provider (Kaplan) was appalling and the entire cohort was forced to re-do two years worth of work for the apprenticeship because the provider had not told us how to do it correctly in the first place.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
2/5
Unfortunately the experience I had at the beginning of my programme was extremely poor and therefore even though the support improved as the training team was re-structured, the initial support that we didn't receive at the start of the programme really tainted the whole experience. The team are now much better at managing the programme and supporting the learners while on it, but it would be unfair for me to give this review without sharing my lived experience. To provide an anecdotal experience as to why I am rating this support so lowly, in my first six months on the programme, when I was working in a busy inner-city banking branch, I was threatened with being removed from the programme (aka sacked) for having to rearrange 1:1 meetings with my apprenticeship manager because I was frequently one of the only members of staff in the building that was able to serve customers.
This person actually left the business not long after this but understandably, this was an extremely stressful period for me because of that. I have thoroughly excelled on the programme and have nothing but incredible feedback from my managers and colleagues that I have worked with, and having just recently received the feedback for my apprenticeship portfolio, the independent assessor made particular reference to the leadership I showed in my first year placement in branch as a key piece of feedback that he was very impressed by.
That said, the support in the final two years of my apprenticeship was much, much better. Once the team had been restructured and they worked out what they wanted to do with the programme the support improved, but it would be dishonest of me to leave this review without accurately considering my experience across the full 4+ years.
This person actually left the business not long after this but understandably, this was an extremely stressful period for me because of that. I have thoroughly excelled on the programme and have nothing but incredible feedback from my managers and colleagues that I have worked with, and having just recently received the feedback for my apprenticeship portfolio, the independent assessor made particular reference to the leadership I showed in my first year placement in branch as a key piece of feedback that he was very impressed by.
That said, the support in the final two years of my apprenticeship was much, much better. Once the team had been restructured and they worked out what they wanted to do with the programme the support improved, but it would be dishonest of me to leave this review without accurately considering my experience across the full 4+ years.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
2/5
Similar to the previous question, the support from the training provider was confusing at best and bad at worst. There was a point when we, as a cohort, were almost three years into the programme whereby an audit had been completed on the portfolio work that we had done and we all had to re-do over two years worth of learning journal entries because the entries that we had previously input (and had been signed off) were deemed to not be adequate.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
5/5
The actual qualification itself has equipped me with the skills, particular in research, data analysis, and better writing skills, to progress my career.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
3/5
There are many events to get involved with at my organisation, but unfortunately these are very site-specific and if you were hired into a site that only has a small handful of learners in it, there is very little effort to ever organise any kinds of events or for the learner team themselves to visit these regional sites to speak with or spend time with learners. That said, there have been several events at the HQ office for which expenses have been allowed.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend HSBC to a friend?
Yes
Why?
Overall the business is a fantastic place to work, with an excellent inclusive culture, and brilliant benefits and pension. Job progression can be varied based on industry performance as whether there are hiring freezes or expansion in certain business areas.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to HSBC?
HSBC is a proud global company and working across teams, across cultures, across timezones, and across languages is a key skill to demonstrate.
