Degree apprenticeships and the claims talent supply

Working with I Love Claims this year on new talent routes into claims, one explanation for the talent gap came up again and again in the room: young people do not want this work.

I no longer believe that.

Look at what young people are actually doing. BBC Freedom of Information data published in August 2026 shows 11.3 applications for every degree apprenticeship place in England this academic year, up from 2.8 three years ago. Applicants through the government’s platform nearly tripled, to 21,800. The number of places nearly halved, from 7,300 to 3,700.

One applicant told the BBC he applied for 35 apprenticeships. Another described university as his backup. Tens of thousands of school leavers are choosing to earn while they learn, and being turned away.

Here is my problem. I cannot tell you how many of those 3,700 places were in claims, because as far as I can see nobody in our sector publishes that number.

The outcome of a claim rests on the person handling it. Yet we leave sourcing those people to job boards and luck, then call the result a talent shortage.

I am genuinely delighted demand is growing. But demand was never our problem. A claim is the product. The person who answers the phone in the worst week of a customer’s life is the brand. If we want better people in that seat, we have to build the route to it.

If your claims function took on no degree apprentices this year, we did not run out of talent. We chose not to grow it.