★ 2026 Benchmark Report

AI ROI, What we actually see

Real outcome data from 200+ UK apprentices on TESS AI & Automation L4 programmes.

Most "AI ROI" reports use vendor data. This one uses TESS Group apprentice outcomes, measured by their employers, not us. 200+ apprentices across financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and the public sector. 6-12 months in.

The headline numbers

48%

Avg time recovered on automated tasks

6.2h

Avg hours saved per apprentice / week

£14,400

Median annual savings per learner

14 weeks

Median time to first automation in production

Where the time goes, before vs after

Average breakdown of weekly work time, pre- and post-AI training

Reporting / data entry

75%

… after AI training

32%

Email / comms triage

68%

… after AI training

36%

Strategic / high-value work

18%

… after AI training

58%

n=204 apprentices. Self-reported via Coachy quarterly survey, validated by line manager. Apr-Dec 2025.

Where the savings actually land, by department

Finance / Ops

£18,200/yr

HR / People

£15,400/yr

Customer Service

£14,600/yr

Marketing

£12,800/yr

Operations Manager

£18,600/yr

L&D / Training

£13,700/yr

Median per-apprentice annual savings, by their primary department. Calculated from time-saved × hourly cost.

The biggest predictor of ROI? Whether the apprentice's line manager engages in the programme. Apprentices whose manager attended >3 of the 6 manager sessions delivered 71% more measured savings than those whose manager attended <2.

Time to first production automation

Most apprentices ship their first real, in-use AI automation between weeks 12 and 18 of the 15-month programme. Distribution:

Weeks 6-11 (early)

18%

Weeks 12-18 (median)

54%

Weeks 19-26 (later)

24%

Week 27+ (late)

Most-built automations (top 8)

Power Automate email-to-spreadsheet logger (32% of apprentices build this in month 4)
Microsoft Copilot meeting-notes-to-action-items (28%)
Make.com form-submission-to-Slack pipeline (24%)
Copilot Studio agent for FAQ (22%)
Zapier CRM-to-email follow-up (19%)
Claude document summariser + classifier (17%)
Google Gemini Gems for departmental knowledge (12%)
AppSheet mobile data capture (9%)

Try your own numbers

Move the sliders to get a quick estimate for your team:

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