Public services

So, what's it all about?

Scales of Justic Whatever job you end up doing, you can be sure of one thing: a large slice of what you earn will be taken away again in tax. As unappealing as that sounds, those taxes pay for the public services that we often take for granted, but couldn’t cope without – education, fire services, waste management, social services, healthcare, police and all those other things.

In Great Britain, about one in five workers are currently employed in the public sector. There are job opportunities across the country, and the number of public sector workers tends to be in proportion to the number of people living in the area.

All of the Apprenticeships in this section deal with the welfare and support of the public (that includes you and us). There are opportunities to suit all sorts of personalities – if you’re the protective type, you could work in security or the fire services. If you’ve got a big heart and like working with all sorts of people, you could work in healthcare or youth justice services. You could help reduce crime in your community, counsel people with addiction problems, make sure people get the medicines they need…the possibilities are endless.

Of course, as a public servant, you might not always be appreciated by your masters – i.e. the general public. You’re not always given the credit when things run smoothly, but people will be quick to blame you when things go wrong.

Don’t let that put you off, though. For many people, working in the public sector – knowing that they’re helping other people and that the country relies on their work – can be very rewarding. And generally speaking, public sector workers have more job security than people employed by private firms.