HR & L&D Edition · 2 cohorts only ST1512 · Level 4 · 12 + 3 EPA 100% Levy Funded No coding HR & L&D only
HRHR & L&D EditionAI & Automation Level 4 · ST1512
For every level of HR, People, OD, Talent and L&D. From HR Officer to Head of People, this is the year your function builds the AI it has been asked about.

The Level 4 AI apprenticeship, rebuilt for HR and L&D. Two cohorts. Then it's gone.

This is the AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4 apprenticeship (ST1512), The TESS Group's flagship, run as a closed cohort for HR, people and L&D professionals. Same twelve modules. Every example, exercise and build is HR work. It adds Using AI in HR Practice, an NCFE-accredited qualification we designed for this edition. 100% levy-funded at £18,000. No coding, live online, Ofsted Good. Two start dates only: 25 November and 10 December 2026.

CIPD Approved Centre CIPD Approved Centre Ofsted Good Provider 4.9/5 · 743 reviews 72% Distinction Rate
Reserve a place → Or book a 25-minute call What you walk away with
2
Cohorts, then closed25 Nov and 10 Dec 2026
12+3
Months delivery + EPA3-month BCS EPA window
12
Modules, HR examplesST1512 curriculum, unchanged
4
Credentials included3 industry + Using AI in HR Practice
CIPD Approved Centre
Meet us in Manchester · 4 to 5 November 2026We are exhibiting at the CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition. Come and see the HR edition built live on the stand, twenty days before Cohort 1 starts.
Reserve before you visit →
Two dates. That is the whole run.

Pick your cohort. Then we hold the seat.

This edition runs twice and then closes. Both cohorts are closed to HR, people and L&D roles, so the room is people who do your job. Reserve, and we hold the seat while funding and eligibility are confirmed.

25
November2026 · Wednesday
–
days to go
Cohort 1 · the first intake

Onboarding and your AI diagnostic land in mid-November, so Module 1 starts on the 25th with Coachy already set up. The first live automation ships before Christmas.

Reserve a place on 25 November → Seat held on reservation
10
December2026 · Thursday
–
days to go
Cohort 2 · the final intake

The last chance at this edition. Onboarding in early December, Module 1 on the 10th, then a clean January run at the build months. Suits teams who need Q4 to clear first.

Reserve a place on 10 December → Seat held on reservation
Places are confirmed in the order reservations arrive, once eligibility is checked. When a cohort is full it closes, and there is no third date planned.

Reserve a place

Takes a minute. We come back within one working day to book your 25-minute call, confirm funding and hold the cohort place. Prefer to skip the form? Book the call directly.

We will never share your details. Privacy.

Who it is for

Every level. Every corner of the people function.

HR Officer or HR Director. Recruiter or Head of Talent. Learning designer or L&D lead. OD, reward, employee relations, people analytics. If your work is people, this edition is built around it, and no technical background is needed to walk in on day one.

HR Business PartnerHR AdviserHR OfficerPeople OperationsRecruitment & Talent AcquisitionEmployee RelationsReward & BenefitsHRIS & People AnalyticsL&D AdviserL&D ConsultantL&D Business PartnerLearning DesignerTalent & ODHR or L&D ManagerHead of PeopleHR DirectorOD & CultureHead of TalentWellbeing & Engagement
AI across the people lifecycle

Every stage you already own, with the bit AI takes marked in.

HR does not think in modules. It thinks in the employee lifecycle. So here is the programme laid out the way you actually work, with the module that builds each piece.

Stage 01
Attract

Job adverts and role descriptions drafted with AI, checked for gender-coded language before they go out.

M01 · Award U2
Stage 02
Hire

CV-screening tools evaluated for fairness, validity and transparency. Interview scheduling automated.

M03 · M07
Stage 03
Onboard

The onboarding chain runs itself: right-to-work reminders, references, first-week tasks. Your Month 3 build.

M02 · M03
Stage 04
Develop

Skills-gap analysis from people data. Learning content and personalised paths drafted, then reviewed by you.

M06 · M10
Stage 05
Retain

Attrition and engagement signals surfaced early. A policy agent that answers the handbook at 11pm, correctly.

M04 · M05
Stage 06
Govern

UK GDPR, Article 22, the Equality Act 2010. What always needs a human, written into a workplace AI policy you drafted.

M06 · Award U3
A typical HR week

Same week. Same team. Different Friday.

Not a promise about your specific week. It is what flagship learners have actually built, mapped onto the tasks that fill most HR calendars.

Before

Manual
  • Chasing references, one email at a timeYou
  • Right-to-work and probation reminders from a spreadsheetYou
  • Holiday, policy and payslip questions in the shared inboxYou
  • Onboarding checklist, copied and pasted per starterYou
  • Engagement survey results, read line by lineYou
  • Job advert drafted from the last one, bias uncheckedYou
  • ER case, grievance, flexible-working decisionYou

The judgement work gets whatever time is left after the admin.

After

Month 6 onwards
  • References requested, chased and filed automaticallyAutomated
  • Reminders fire from the HRIS on the right day, every timeAutomated
  • Handbook questions answered by your policy agent, with sourcesAgent
  • Onboarding chain triggers on offer acceptanceAutomated
  • Survey themes summarised, sentiment flagged, you read the exceptionsAgent
  • Advert drafted, bias-checked, then edited by youAgent + you
  • ER case, grievance, flexible-working decisionAlways you

The last line does not change, and the programme is explicit about why. Anything with legal effect on a person stays human.

A few sessions in, Fi has automated her six-monthly HR review process, built an agent that analyses talent contracts, and is saving half a day every week.
Fi Rees-White, Group Head of Integrated Production, Oliver (Brandtech Group). Learner on the AI & Automation Level 4.
What it is

What is the HR edition of the AI & Automation Level 4?

The standard

ST1512, unchanged

ST1512 is the Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner apprenticeship standard. This edition delivers every knowledge, skill and behaviour in it, assessed independently by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. The standard does not bend. The examples do.

The difference

Every build is HR work

On the flagship a finance learner automates invoices and a marketer builds a content agent. Here, the Month 3 automation is your onboarding chain and the Month 4 agent answers policy questions from your own handbook. The people in the room do your job.

The addition

Using AI in HR Practice

A Customised Qualification we designed for this edition and had accredited by NCFE. Three units, sixty hours, assessed through a workbook built on real HR tasks. It is an unregulated qualification, and the full detail is in the credentials section below.

The TESS Group is an Ofsted Good UK apprenticeship provider specialising in AI. Coachy is TESS Group's AI tutor, included free with every learner and scoped to the ST1512 standard, so a question that does not land in a Tuesday session gets answered on Tuesday night rather than next month.

Your year, in three chapters

Twelve months from now, HR is the team that built it.

Not a syllabus. Three things you will be able to point at, in order, each one live in your organisation before the next begins.

Chapter 1 · Months 0 to 5By month 4

Your onboarding runs itself. Your handbook answers back.

The build months. You leave with two things running in your organisation: an automation that takes a real HR chore off the team for good, and a policy agent that answers first-line questions from your own documents, with guardrails your ER lead signed.

  • M03First live automation. For most HR learners, the onboarding chain or the reference process, triggering on its own.
  • M04Your People Assistant. Handbook and policy questions answered at 11pm, correctly, with sources.
  • M05Guardrails and audit trail. It never touches disciplinary, grievance or anything with legal effect.
M00 Onboarding & diagnosticM01 AI FoundationsM02 Process DiscoveryM03 Workflow AutomationM04 Agentic AIM05 Integration & Assurance
Chapter 2 · Months 6 to 8By month 8

It is defensible. DPIA’d, bias-audited, piloted on real cases.

The governance months, and the reason HR should be the function that owns this. UK GDPR and Article 22 applied to people data. A recruitment tool bias-audited against the Equality Act 2010. Then a real pilot, on real cases, including the awkward ones, with evidence leadership can see.

  • M06Data law you can sign. DPIAs, lawful basis, retention, and where human review is mandatory.
  • M07Bias audit, done properly. AI that works for every candidate and every employee, not the average one.
  • M08Piloted and proven. Working evidence before anyone asks you to scale it.
M06 Data, Decisions & Data LawM07 Designing Responsible AIM08 Pilot, Test & Assure
Chapter 3 · Months 9 to 11By month 11

HR owns the adoption plan, the business case, and one capstone build.

The leading months. Consultation, role redesign, comms by employee group, reskilling: the people side of AI adoption, which is HR’s to lead. A costed, risk-assessed business case written from nine months of your own evidence. Then one ambitious HR build, live, plus a hands-on Copilot, Gemini and Claude day.

  • M09The adoption plan. The module the build-only programmes skip, and the one HR owns.
  • M10A business case that survives finance. Costed, risk-assessed, from evidence rather than a vendor deck.
  • M11Capstone, live. Then Gateway and the BCS end-point assessment.
M09 Leading AI AdoptionM10 AI Strategy, Scaling & ValueM11 Applied AI Mastery

One module a month, around 20% off-the-job. Full module detail is on the flagship AI & Automation Level 4 page. This edition changes the examples, not the standard.

What you walk away with

One apprenticeship, three industry certifications, one HR qualification. All included. Nothing extra to pay.

Five things on your CV by the end. Here is exactly what each one is, who awards it, and what it tells an employer. Open any card for the detail.

1
Regulated Level 4 apprenticeshipST1512, assessed by BCS, graded Pass or Distinction
3
Industry certifications, embeddedMicrosoft, BCS and NCFE. No extra evening work
HR qualification, this edition onlyUsing AI in HR Practice, accredited by NCFE
Regulated · Level 4

AI & Automation Practitioner

Apprenticeship standard ST1512 · EPA by BCS

The apprenticeship itself. A regulated Level 4 standard, independently assessed and graded Pass or Distinction. This is the credential the levy pays for.

What it means ▾
How it is assessed
  • Work-based project showcase, a real HR problem you solved
  • Professional discussion with a BCS assessor
  • Portfolio review, built as you go in OneFile
What it tells an employer

That you can find, build, govern and roll out AI and automation in a live organisation, to a standard checked by the Chartered Institute for IT rather than by the provider. TESS learners achieve a 72% distinction rate against a 33% national average.

Included

Microsoft Copilot AB-730

Microsoft Applied Skills credential

Microsoft's own verified credential for Copilot. Sits as a badge on LinkedIn. Relevant because Copilot is the tool most HR teams already have a licence for.

What it means ▾
What is covered
  • Prompts that produce reliable output inside Word, Outlook, Teams and Excel
  • Designing AI workflows across Microsoft 365
  • Responsible use: governance, data protection, prompt security
What it tells an employer

That the Copilot seats they are paying for will actually be used well in HR, by someone Microsoft has verified.

Included

BCS Foundation Certificate in AI

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

A chartered, lifetime, portable certificate in the fundamentals of AI. The awarding body your IT director will recognise.

What it means ▾
What is covered
  • What AI and machine learning are, and are not
  • Ethics, risk and the human role in AI decisions
  • Sat as a multiple-choice exam, pass rate above 90% at TESS
What it tells an employer

AI literacy at a chartered industry standard. Defensible when a board asks who in HR actually understands this.

Included

NCFE AI Prompt Mastery

Awarded by NCFE

The skill that turns a generic AI subscription into one that does useful work on your actual caseload. Portfolio-assessed, not exam-based.

What it means ▾
What is covered
  • Structuring prompts for consistent, reviewable output
  • Context, constraints and tone for UK employment settings
  • Sense-checking and editing AI output before it is used
What it tells an employer

Most of the productivity gain from AI comes from this skill, not from the platform. Evidence that you have it.

HR edition only · Customised Qualification

Using AI in HR Practice

Developed by The TESS Group · Accredited by NCFE · Unregulated

The qualification we wrote for this edition. Three units, sixty hours of total qualification time, assessed through a workbook of twenty-six criteria where every task is real HR work: producing a job advert with AI and showing your review, evaluating a CV-screening tool for fairness, drafting a workplace AI policy, justifying a people-AI business case. Sits inside the apprenticeship, not on top of it.

The three units ▾
Unit 1 · 18 hours · Understanding AI in HR Contexts

Generative AI, machine learning and automation in HR terms. Where AI helps, and where human judgement, empathy or legal accountability must stay. Prompting and sense-checking outputs.

Unit 2 · 24 hours · Applying AI Across the HR Lifecycle

Talent acquisition and workforce planning. Automating high-volume, low-judgement processes and measuring the impact. Interpreting AI-generated people insights. Building the business case.

Unit 3 · 18 hours · Ethics, Governance and Leading AI Change in HR

UK GDPR and the Equality Act 2010 applied to AI. When human review is required. Evaluating vendors. Drafting the workplace AI policy. Leading the people side of adoption.

Assessment

Workbook-based. Each of the 26 criteria is marked Met or Not Yet Met by a TESS assessor, with written feedback and resubmission if needed. All criteria must be Met for the qualification to be awarded.

What Using AI in HR Practice is, and is not. It is a Customised Qualification developed by The TESS Group to meet the specific needs of HR and L&D learners, and has been accredited by NCFE, demonstrating quality and rigour. NCFE is an awarding organisation recognised by the qualification regulators for England (Ofqual), Wales (Qualifications Wales) and Northern Ireland (CCEA Regulation). This is an unregulated qualification and is not a nationally recognised qualification. We have benchmarked its learning outcomes and assessment criteria at Level 3 using national framework level descriptors, to demonstrate the difficulty and depth of study. On completion, learners receive a certificate of achievement issued directly by NCFE, at no additional cost. It does not confer post-nominals or a licence to practise, and it is separate from the regulated Level 4 apprenticeship above.

Optional after the apprenticeship, with support: NCFE Data and NCFE Cyber Security Practices.

For the CIPD community

The AI layer that sits alongside your CIPD.

Your CIPD gave you the people profession. This gives you the ability to automate, govern and lead AI inside it. Stronger together, and delivered by a centre that already teaches both.

CIPD Approved Centre
  • CIPD Approved Centre. We deliver CIPD Level 3, 5 and 7 here, so your trainers and coaches work with CIPD learners every week.
  • See us at CIPD ACE. Manchester Central, 4 and 5 November. Come and watch the People Assistant built on the stand.
  • Twelve months of loggable CPD. Structured, assessed, and evidenced in a portfolio.
Already CIPD-qualified Add the AI capability your Level 5 or 7 did not cover. Reserve a cohort → Want both Pair it with our CIPD Level 5 People Professional. Two funded routes, one people team. See CIPD Level 5 → L&D professional Same edition, with learning design, content generation and capability analytics as your builds. AI for L&D teams →

This edition and the Using AI in HR Practice qualification are The TESS Group’s own programmes, not CIPD qualifications.

Funding

Is the HR edition levy-funded?

Yes, because it is ST1512. Levy-paying employers fund it entirely from their Apprenticeship Levy at the £18,000 funding band, with no course fee. Non-levy SMEs receive 95% government co-investment. The HR-specific delivery and the Using AI in HR Practice qualification are included, not charged. Not sure what your levy pot looks like? The levy calculator takes two minutes.

Honest line: we are not the cheapest provider in the market. We are the one whose learners get distinctions.

Proof
Ofsted Good provider
72%
Distinction at EPA. UK average around 33%.
98%
EPA pass rate across TESS apprenticeships.
4.9
from 743 verified reviews, Trustpilot and Google.
Good
Ofsted grade. Skills England approved.
Who teaches you

Taught by the people who wrote it and the people who have run HR change for real.

Anthony Baafi
AI Trainer · AI Transformation Leader

Former Capability Manager and Apprentice Lead at Southwark Council, running workforce development for one of the UK's largest housing portfolios, and £200K of operational savings at LB Newham. A decade of digital change across local government, housing, fintech and education. Builds a working AI agent live, on your own context, in the room.

Why HR people warm to him. He has owned an apprenticeship programme from the employer side, with the same consultation duties and the same sign-off politics you have.
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Brian Harkins
AI Trainer & Coach · ST1512 Curriculum Author

Brian wrote the Level 4 curriculum you will be studying and still teaches it. The build months are his home ground: process discovery, then real automations and agents in Copilot Studio and Power Automate. A commercial software developer before he taught, so he can explain what sits under the no-code surface. Coaches learners through Gateway and the BCS assessment.

Twice Teacher of the Year and an Apple Distinguished Educator, with over twenty years in technical education.
B.ED HONSCOPILOT STUDIOPOWER AUTOMATEEPA PREP
William McKee
Lead Trainer · Organisational Psychologist

Lead trainer on the Level 4 and all three Level 5 AI Leadership Units. An executive educator and organisational psychologist with fifteen years in front of senior rooms, currently teaching at MIT, Johns Hopkins, Rutgers and LSE. The psychology is the point: sessions are built so people actually adopt the tools, not just understand them.

A delegate on a previous cohort: “Brings understanding of models to life, funny, empathetic and endlessly knowledgeable.”
MSC PSYCHICF ACCIODMITLSE

Separately, every apprentice gets a named skills coach for monthly one-to-ones, progress reviews and portfolio support, assigned at onboarding.

Your skills coach

Monthly one-to-ones with someone who knows what 9pm after work feels like.

Every learner gets a named skills coach for the whole programme: monthly sessions, progress reviews, portfolio checks and mock professional discussions ahead of the BCS assessment. Two of the team who coach this edition:

Nika Underwood
AI Skills Coach · AI Researcher · Responsible AI Advocate

First-Class graduate in AI & Robotics who builds and evaluates AI systems as a researcher, with five years and more than 2,000 hours of one-to-one teaching behind her. An ITU / United Nations AI for Good Young AI Leader and a BCS Young Professionals representative. Coaches learners to spot the real task, choose the right tool, build it responsibly and evidence it well.

In her words: a busy HR manager or PA learning AI on top of a day job feels the way any reluctant learner does, and she meets them there.
BSC AI FIRSTL5 TEACHINGBCS ETHICAL AIUN AI FOR GOOD
Aidan Aedy
AI & Automation Skills Coach · Microsoft Certified Trainer

Nine years as an automation engineer before AI was a job title, then technical training. A Microsoft Certified Trainer across Copilot, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365, so your people automate inside the licences you already own. Specialises in the governance side: data protection, human-in-the-loop checks, auditability. Has completed two apprenticeships himself.

His instinct: describe a 20-minute manual task done fifty times a week and he sees the trigger, the branches and the sign-off, then coaches you to build it.
MCTAZ-900MB-910L3 AETPOWER AUTOMATE

Brian Harkins and Anthony Baafi coach on the Level 4 as well as teach it. Your coach is confirmed at onboarding, and you will get their profile before your first session.

Choosing the right thing

Apprenticeship, one-day workshop, or a Leadership Unit? It depends what you want to leave with.

Comparison of the HR edition apprenticeship, the one-day AI for HR workshop, and a Leadership Unit
 HR & L&D Edition, Level 4AI for HR, one-day workshopL5 AI Leadership Unit
You leave withLive automations and an HR policy agent running in your organisation. A regulated Level 4 apprenticeship. Three embedded certifications. Using AI in HR Practice.Awareness of what is possible, some practice, a set of prompts.A 30-hour leadership-level view of AI strategy, governance or delivery.
TimeTwelve months, one module a month, around 20% off-the-job, plus a three-month EPA windowOne day30 hours, typically over four to six weeks
FundingApprenticeship Levy, £18,000 band. 95% co-investment for SMEs.Paid, not levy-eligibleGrowth & Skills Levy, £750
Best forHR and L&D people who want capability, not a briefingTeams who need orientation fastHeads of People setting direction rather than building
WhereReserve a place aboveAI for HR workshopAI Leadership Units
“HR has spent two years being told to have a view on AI. This is the edition where HR builds the thing, on its own processes, with people who do the same job, and finishes with the evidence. The first six months are practical on purpose. We want the onboarding chain automated before anyone has to write about it.”
Rod Doyle, Co-founder & Director, The TESS Group
Common questions

Things HR people ask us before they book.

What is the HR and L&D edition of the AI & Automation Level 4 apprenticeship?
It is the same Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner apprenticeship (ST1512) that The TESS Group delivers as its flagship, run as a closed cohort for HR and L&D professionals only. The twelve modules are unchanged. What changes is every example, exercise and build, which use HR and L&D work rather than generic business tasks. It also adds Using AI in HR Practice, an NCFE-accredited Customised Qualification. Two cohorts run: 25 November and 10 December 2026.
Is the HR edition levy-funded?
Yes. It is the ST1512 apprenticeship, so it draws on the Apprenticeship Levy at the £18,000 funding band for levy-paying employers, with no course fee. Non-levy SMEs receive 95% government co-investment. The HR-specific content and the Using AI in HR Practice qualification are included at no additional cost.
Do HR professionals need to code for this apprenticeship?
No. ST1512 is delivered without code throughout. Learners build automations and agents on no-code platforms such as Copilot Studio and Power Automate. Most learners on the flagship programme come from non-technical roles, and this edition is built for HR, people and L&D backgrounds specifically.
Is Using AI in HR Practice a regulated qualification?
No. Using AI in HR Practice is a Customised Qualification developed by The TESS Group and accredited by NCFE. It is an unregulated qualification and is not a nationally recognised qualification. Its learning outcomes have been benchmarked at Level 3 using national framework level descriptors to show depth of study. Learners receive a certificate of achievement issued directly by NCFE. The apprenticeship itself, ST1512, is a regulated Level 4 standard.
How long does the HR edition take?
Twelve months of delivery covering the twelve modules, followed by a three-month end-point assessment window with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. Around fifteen months in total. One module a month, with around 20% off-the-job training time, as on the flagship programme.
Who is the HR edition for?
HR Business Partners, HR Advisers and Officers, People Operations, Recruitment and Talent Acquisition, Employee Relations, Reward, HRIS and People Analytics, L&D Advisers, Consultants and Partners, Learning Designers, and HR or L&D leads who want hands-on capability rather than a briefing. It requires no technical background.
How is the apprenticeship assessed?
By BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, through a work-based project showcase, a professional discussion and a portfolio review, graded Pass or Distinction. TESS Group learners achieve a 72% distinction rate against a UK national average of around 33%, and a 98% EPA pass rate. The Using AI in HR Practice qualification is assessed separately through a workbook of 26 criteria marked Met or Not Yet Met.
What is the difference between this and the one-day AI for HR workshop?
The one-day workshop is a briefing: you leave knowing what is possible. The apprenticeship is a build programme: you leave with live automations and an HR policy agent running in your organisation, a regulated Level 4 apprenticeship, three embedded industry certifications, and the Using AI in HR Practice qualification, all levy-funded. Choose the workshop for awareness and the apprenticeship for capability.

Related: how HR teams are leading AI adoption (guide) · all AI apprenticeships · the flagship AI & Automation Level 4 · AI apprenticeships for L&D teams · Growth & Skills Levy explained · Why TESS · Trust & security

Updated September 2026

Two cohorts. Twenty-five minutes to find out if it's yours.

Reserve a seat on 25 November or 10 December. We come back within a working day, confirm funding and eligibility on a 25-minute call, and hold the place.

Reserve a place →