Apprenticeship Information

This is an exciting opportunity to join a high performing collaborative strategic procurement function, supporting the five Police Forces across the South West of England. You will have the opportunity to commence your procurement career, whilst having a positive impact on the police service provided to our communities. Apprentices are trained primarily in work, and are supported by a training provider. 

This post is being offered as an apprenticeship in order for the successful applicant to complete a Commercial Procurement and Supply qualification. Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship, you will be confirmed substantively in the post of Category Buyer.

The position is for 37 hours a week, but please note that this includes one day protected study time for completion of the online course requirements.

The role cannot start until December. The start date needs to tie in with next intake for the apprentice scheme which is in January 2026.

The Role

The principal responsibility of the Category Buyer is to provide expert support within an identified key category area of the work of the South West Police Procurement Service (SWPPS), leading on individual procurements to deliver the particular key category’s strategies.  The role will focus on three key areas of activity:

• Category Strategy
• Category Sourcing
• Category Management

This list of duties is not restrictive or exhaustive and the post-holder may be required to carry out duties from time to time that are either commensurate with/or lower than the grade of the post.  In some posts this might include the ad-hoc provision of guidance and informal training of new colleagues.

Application

As this is an apprenticeship you only need to provide evidence on your application in relation to Criteria 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Evidence against criteria 1 and 2 is NOT required. Please be aware that as an apprenticeship entry, there is no expectation that you are currently able to fully meet ALL the criteria within the job description for the Category Buyer role but we would ask you to evidence your current experience and academic achievement relevant to the criteria to enable an assessment of your aptitude for the role.