Animal Care and Welfare Assistant

On an animal care and welfare assistant apprenticeship course, you’ll help with standard day-to-day husbandry and care of domestic and/or wild animals in various settings.

Individuals and organisations work in kennels, catteries, laboratories, animal welfare centres, agricultural parks, rehabilitation centres, retail stores, and animal transportation.

To be considered for this job, you must have a strong work ethic and be ready to work irregular hours in all weather conditions.

You must adhere to safe working practices and take responsibility for yourself, animals, and others.

Animal interaction and handling, rehoming, movement and transportation, operational/reception duties, breeding, working dog handler, wildlife rehabilitation, and veterinary care support are all options in this apprenticeship.

What you’ll learn

On an animal care and welfare assistant apprenticeship course, you’ll learn:

• How an animal’s natural behaviour impacts its diet and feeding patterns.
• The species/breeds specific to your role and common characteristics.
• Signs that indicate potential problems with animals’ health and welfare and the actions that should be taken.
• The types of basic medication, routes of administering medication, safe handling and disposal of medication.
• Animal first aid, urgent, ongoing and preventive care.
• The use of different cleaning materials and equipment
• Feeding, watering and basic nutrition and characteristics of foodstuffs.
• How to safely approach/handle/restrain/move animals.

Entry requirements

You’ll usually need:

• GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
• Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this before taking the end-point assessment.

Assessment methods

The End Point Assessment comprises two distinct methods:

• Practical Assessment  
• Professional Discussion 

Duration, level, subjects and potential salary upon completion

Apprenticeship standard

More information about the Level 2 Animal Care and Welfare Assistant Apprenticeship standard can be found here.

Apprenticeship end point assessment

For more information about the End Point Assessment Process, please read the Institute of Apprenticeships’ information page.