A CMI certificate as a complimentary add-on from TESS, alongside a levy-funded AI apprenticeship. Senior Leader L7 lost its funding. For the same leaders, this is a strong option: the full ST1512 AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4, with your choice of CMI Strategic Management & Leadership or Leadership Coaching & Mentoring alongside it. Two personal tutors per learner. About half a day a week.
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Two funded routes exist. First, the AI for Senior Leaders route: the full Level 4 AI and Automation Practitioner apprenticeship (ST1512), levy-funded over 15 months, with a CMI certificate alongside it as a complimentary add-on (Strategic Management and Leadership Practice, or Leadership Coaching and Mentoring). Second, for leaders who want a shorter commitment, the three Skills England AI Leadership units at Level 5 (AU0009 AI Strategy and Opportunity, AU0010 AI Adoption, Procurement and Governance, AU0011 AI Delivery and Organisational Transformation), each 30 or more guided learning hours, funded at the government funding rate for each unit. TESS Group delivers both.
Levy funding for the Senior Leader Level 7 apprenticeship has been removed, and a standalone CMI course is a paid extra. Senior leadership development isn't going anywhere, but the way you fund it has to change.
The good news: there is a strong, funded option for the same leaders. The full AI & Automation Level 4 apprenticeship is levy-funded, and TESS adds a CMI certificate alongside it: strategic leadership or leadership coaching, the learner chooses. The apprenticeship is the live ST1512 standard; the CMI sits outside it. Compare the two CMI pathways →
Job titles vary: the common thread is remit. If they set direction, own outcomes or grow other leaders, they fit; no degree or prior management qualification required, and SMEs without a levy join through 95–100% government co-investment. It's not a first-rung programme: supervisors and new managers have their own routes below.
Leaders accountable for results who now also own the AI question. They leave able to set AI strategy, govern it and evidence ROI across their function, with the strategic credential to match.
Best fit · Strategic pathwaySuccession candidates and rising senior managers. The AI apprenticeship gives them the capability their next role will assume; the CMI certificate TESS adds gives them a chartered management qualification ahead of the move.
Best fit · Strategic pathwayOwner-managers and SME directors wearing every hat. No levy account needed: government co-investment funds the apprenticeship for smaller employers too, and TESS adds the same CMI certificate alongside it.
Either pathwayHR and L&D directors, and senior leaders whose real job is growing the leadership bench. The Leadership Coaching & Mentoring pathway formalises the leadership work they already do.
Best fit · Coaching pathwayWe'd budgeted for the Senior Leader Level 7 before it lost funding. This gave our directors the CMI certificate we wanted anyway, and they came out able to lead our AI adoption, not just sponsor it.
About half a day a week, shaped around senior diaries. A monthly 1:1 tutorial with each of two personal tutors, live online workshop sessions through the programme, and short applied sprints run inside your own organisation; the assessed work is built on your real strategy, not case studies.
Priorities collide? Your tutors re-plan around board cycles and peak periods, Coachy covers the gaps 24/7, and the 15-month programme has slack built in. A formal pause (break in learning) exists under apprenticeship rules if you need it.
Peers, not juniors. Open cohorts mix directors, heads-of and senior managers from the employers TESS trains (logistics, retail, health, local government, education and professional services) so the discussion runs at the level you operate at.
Want your own room? Closed cohorts run for a single employer's leadership team, online or face-to-face, with content angled at your organisation's AI agenda.
Every learner completes the full ST1512 AI & Automation Level 4 apprenticeship, the 11-module AI curriculum below, and chooses one CMI certificate. TESS adds it alongside the apprenticeship. It is not part of the funded apprenticeship, and it sits outside the off-the-job hours.
The only chartered awarding body for management and leadership qualifications, backed by a Royal Charter. Both pathways are formally assessed by CMI, a credential that stays on the CV for life.
Choose this if your leader shapes strategy, owns a P&L or function, and needs the formal strategic-leadership credential the defunded Senior Leader L7 used to provide.
Choose this if your leader develops other leaders, building a coaching culture, running exec-level 1:1s, and embedding coaching and mentoring into how the organisation performs.
The certificate alone is a complete, formally assessed CMI qualification, listed on a CV for life. Either pathway can then be topped up to the full CMI Diploma in around six further months, for a fraction of the standalone course fee.
Same credential either way. Everything else is different.
| Standalone CMI course | This route | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Paid standalone course | Complimentary add-on from TESS, alongside a levy-funded apprenticeship |
| AI capability | None | Full Level 4 AI & Automation curriculum |
| Extra qualifications | None | Microsoft AB-730 + NCFE AI Prompt Mastery |
| Support model | Usually light-touch | Two personal tutors + Coachy 24/7 |
| Diploma top-up | Full price | Discounted route after the apprenticeship |
The apprenticeship is the ST1512 AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4 standard. On top, TESS adds two personal tutors and Coachy, your 24/7 AI tutor, with NCFE Level 3 AI Prompt Mastery and Microsoft AB-730 at no cost to your business, plus a CMI certificate as a complimentary add-on. No separate enrolments, no add-on fees for you to arrange.
Where the funding line sits. Your apprenticeship is the ST1512 AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4: the training plan, off-the-job hours and end-point assessment are all against that standard. The CMI certificate (either pathway) is added by TESS. It sits outside the apprenticeship’s off-the-job hours, is delivered separately, and contains no AI content.
Leadership extra
The strategic credential for senior leaders. Choose the CMI certificate in Strategic Management & Leadership Practice or in Leadership Coaching & Mentoring. Formally assessed by the Chartered Management Institute, portable for life, with an optional CMI Diploma top-up route after.
Bespoke TESS qualification. Master prompt engineering across ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Claude. Apply prompts to team performance reviews, 1:1 prep, KPI reporting and operational decisions.
Microsoft's globally recognised credential. Demonstrates proficiency in Copilot, generative AI tools and enterprise AI adoption frameworks. The badge that travels with your leaders on LinkedIn and across every employer.
Scoped to the ST1512 standard, EPA-safe by design. Your senior leaders can ask Coachy questions about leadership frameworks, AI tools, EPA prep or their workplace project, any time of day. Mobile and desktop.
Great, let's use the SBI feedback framework. Start with the Situation, then Behaviour, then Impact. I can walk you through prep for your specific case, what's the role and what's been happening?
The ST1512 AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4 apprenticeship curriculum, 11 KSB-aligned modules delivered across the programme: this is the funded apprenticeship. Your CMI pathway runs separately, alongside the apprenticeship, outside the off-the-job hours.
Induction, AI diagnostic, Coachy & OneFile set up. Every learner benchmarked before Module 1.
Get the team using ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and Gemini safely and to genuine effect. Shadow-AI risk closed off, plus a working introduction to agentic AI and the autonomous, multi-step AI agents now entering the workplace.
Find the hidden hours in your team's week, map them and rank them by which would actually survive automation.
Ship a live, no-code automation that takes a real repetitive job off your team's plate. Power Automate, Make, Zapier.
Build an AI agent that actually does the work, on your data. Copilot Studio, multi-agent workflows, RAG.
Make the agent safe enough to roll out properly. Guardrails, safety controls, an audit trail IT will approve.
Use customer data safely. UK GDPR, lawful basis, DPIAs, retention rules. The data law your DPO has been waiting for.
Build AI that works for every customer and employee, not just the average one. Bias audited, accessibly designed.
Test it for real, on real data, with the trickier day-to-day situations. Prove results to leadership before scaling.
The hardest part of AI is getting people to actually use it. The adoption module the build-only programmes skip.
Walk in with a real, credible AI business case. Costed, risk-assessed, ready to defend.
One ambitious AI build, running live in your business. Plus a Copilot, Gemini & Claude hands-on day. Gateway readiness.
Your senior leaders won't just learn about AI, they'll get hands-on with the exact tools transforming how organisations run. From Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT to Power Automate and Zapier. Plain English, no coding, real workplace scenarios.
AI assistant across M365, Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook
OpenAI's flagship model, drafting, analysis, research
Anthropic, deep reasoning, long-context analysis
Google's multimodal AI, Workspace, Sheets, NotebookLM
AI-powered research with cited sources
Google's knowledge-base AI, your docs become an expert
Microsoft's no-code workflow engine
Connect 6,000+ apps with no-code automations
Visual scenario builder for complex automations
AI pair-programmer for technical team members
Enterprise RPA, robotic process automation
Build custom AI agents for your team
Google's no-code app builder for ops teams
Live dashboards from your team's data
Generative AI for design & team visuals
AI inside your team's knowledge base
And more: GitHub Copilot · ElevenLabs · Midjourney · Jasper · Adobe Firefly · Otter.ai, we update the toolkit as the AI landscape shifts.
100% funded through the Apprenticeship Levy · Non-levy employers pay just 5%. What you get back: measurable.
776 verified reviews averaging 4.9/5, exceptional learner satisfaction across every programme.
Independently verified quality. Highest standards of delivery, learner support and outcomes.
A formally assessed CMI certificate, strategic or coaching pathway, added by TESS.
NCFE Level 3 AI Prompt Mastery and Microsoft AB-730, plus a CMI certificate as a complimentary add-on. Carefully chosen for senior leaders.
With Senior Leader L7 funding withdrawn, this is a levy-funded AI apprenticeship for the same leaders, with a CMI certificate alongside it.
No coding. No tech background. No-code tools, plain-English AI prompting, applied to real strategic and organisational scenarios.
The ST1512 AI & Automation apprenticeship with a CMI certificate alongside it, beside the defunded Senior Leader apprenticeship and a standalone CMI course.
| What you get | TESS AI for Senior Leaders L4 |
Senior Leader L7 (defunded) |
Standalone CMI course |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMI certificate: strategic or coaching pathway, learner's choice | ✓ | Fixed route | Fixed route |
| AI & Automation curriculum (11 modules) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Microsoft AB-730 + NCFE Level 3 AI Prompt | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| 100% levy-funded | ✓ | Defunded | Paid standalone course |
| Two personal tutors · monthly 1:1 tutorials | ✓ | Varies | Varies |
| Coachy AI tutor, 24/7, on every enrolment | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Optional CMI Diploma top-up route | ✓ | Partial | Full price |
| No coding · designed around senior diaries | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
We'd budgeted for the Senior Leader Level 7 before it lost funding. This gave our directors the CMI certificate we wanted anyway, and they came out able to lead our AI adoption, not just sponsor it.
I chose the Leadership Coaching & Mentoring pathway. The coaching qualification changed how I develop my leadership team, and the AI modules changed how we run the operation. Two personal tutors kept it workable around a heavy diary.
The CMI certificate was the draw: strategic leadership with a chartered credential, alongside an apprenticeship funded through the levy we were already paying. The AI curriculum turned out to be just as valuable at board level. Best CPD I've done in 12 years.
A 30-minute Teams chat covers funding and levy position, the strategic vs coaching pathway choice, cohort dates, time commitment for senior diaries, and how the optional CMI Diploma top-up works. No decision pressure.
Real moments from live TESS leadership sessions with trainer Jamie Chambers. These clips come from live TESS leadership sessions: the same trainer team that delivers this programme.
Every clip under 2 minutes · plays on click
Everything HR Directors, L&D Managers and senior leaders need to know about AI for Senior Leaders Level 4.
Yes. Levy funding for the Senior Leader Level 7 apprenticeship has been removed, and a standalone CMI course is a paid extra. For the same leaders, AI for Senior Leaders Level 4 is a strong option: the levy-funded ST1512 AI & Automation apprenticeship, with a CMI certificate alongside it as a complimentary add-on, outside the funded apprenticeship.
Each learner chooses their pathway at enrolment: the CMI certificate in Strategic Management & Leadership Practice, or the CMI certificate in Leadership Coaching & Mentoring. Both are awarded by the Chartered Management Institute and either is a complimentary add-on. Bought on its own, a CMI certificate of this kind is a paid course. Mixed cohorts are fine: some of your leaders can take the strategic route while others take the coaching route.
Strategic pathway (Strategic Management & Leadership Practice, min 14 credits): strategic leadership, developing organisational strategy, leading & developing people, strategic risk, finance, and data & information for decision-making. Coaching pathway (Leadership Coaching & Mentoring, 13 credits, ~130 hrs): organisational coaching & mentoring, coaching & mentoring policies, the strategic impact of coaching, leadership coaching skills, and leading equality & diversity. Both formally assessed by the Chartered Management Institute.
Yes. After the apprenticeship, Certificate holders can top up to the full CMI Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership Practice (minimum 37 credits) in roughly six further months, for a fraction of the standalone course fee. Ask us about the top-up on your discovery call.
Around half a day per week over 15 months, delivered live online and shaped around senior diaries. Every learner has two personal tutors with monthly 1:1 tutorials, plus Coachy, the TESS AI tutor, 24/7 between sessions. Closed cohorts can flex delivery patterns.
No. Every AI module uses no-code tools and plain-English prompting (Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Power Automate, Zapier and more), applied to strategic decisions, governance and organisational rollout. No programming at any point, and no degree or prior management qualification is required to enrol.
No. The apprenticeship is the Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner standard, and everything funded (training plan, off-the-job hours, end-point assessment) is against that standard. Senior leaders apply the AI work at whatever level they operate: AI strategy, governance, risk and ROI across their own function, with assessed work built on their real organisation. The CMI certificate is a complimentary add-on from TESS, alongside the apprenticeship.
Open cohorts mix directors, heads-of and senior managers from across TESS's employer base (logistics, retail, health, local government, education, professional services) so workshop discussion runs at senior level. For a single employer's leadership team, closed cohorts run online or face-to-face with content angled at your organisation.
The programme is built to flex: your two tutors re-plan around board cycles and peak periods, the 15-month programme has slack built in, and Coachy keeps progress moving between sessions. If something major lands, apprenticeships allow a formal break in learning: the programme pauses and resumes without losing progress.
Yes. The apprenticeship is levy-funded up to the funding band maximum. SMEs without a levy account get government co-investment. The CMI certificate, Microsoft AB-730, NCFE AI Prompt Mastery and Coachy are complimentary add-ons from TESS. The CMI certificate sits outside the funded apprenticeship and its off-the-job hours.
The apprenticeship pauses and can continue with the new employer's agreement: funding transfers with the learner under the levy rules. TESS manages the paperwork and keeps the learner's progress, portfolio and CMI pathway intact.
The same ST1512 apprenticeship (all 11 AI modules, AB-730, NCFE AI Prompt Mastery, Coachy), with a CMI certificate as a complimentary add-on, designed for directors, heads-of and senior managers. For supervisors and first-line managers, see AI for Team Leaders L4 (with CMI Level 3). For ops managers and departmental leads, see AI for Operations Leaders L4 (with CMI Level 5).
The apprenticeship is levy-funded, or government co-invested for SMEs. AI capability at Level 4, a CMI certificate alongside it, and the confidence to lead AI adoption from the top.
This is the route for senior leaders who need both: the AI and automation capability of the Level 4 standard, and a CMI certificate (Strategic Management & Leadership or Leadership Coaching & Mentoring) alongside the apprenticeship, which UK employers recognise. The apprenticeship is levy-funded. The CMI certificate sits outside the funded programme.