Modern Apprenticeship - Horticulture - (Temp/Full Time) - REF:ER/Various

Modern Apprenticeship – Horticulture

A Modern Apprenticeship offers paid employment combined with relevant on the job learning, leading to a nationally recognised qualification. 

As part of Inverclyde Council’s ‘Inverclyde Works’ recruitment and training drive, we are inviting applications for our Modern Apprentice (MA) Programme for Inverclyde residents aged between 16 – 24 years with a keen interest in working within a horticulture environment.  (The age range increases to up to 29 years for Inverclyde residents who have a disability and/or are care experienced*).

The successful applicant will be employed on a fixed term 2 year contract, working 37 hours per week, and will work towards attainment of the SCQF Level 5 Greenkeeping or Landscaping qualification. Apprentices will be paid the Real Living Wage with a current annual salary of £25,877.

The on-the-job learning will be delivered by the Council’s Environmental and Commercial Services in partnership with local third sector organisations and will also include weekly day release to attend a training centre for additional learning and assessment.

The successful candidate will be expected to comply with all health and safety requirements and attend all development training as required. 

Applicants must have a good standard of education and be willing to commit to meeting agreed timescales and targets in relation to attaining the SCQF Level 5 qualification within 2 years.

Key personal qualities include:

• Having confidence in your written and verbal communication.
• Having good numeracy skills.
• Having the ability to work accurately and give attention to detail.
• Being able to work well within a team, knowing when to ask for assistance/guidance.
• Being confident in the use of IT, including Word and Excel.
• Being able to plan and organise workload efficiently and effectively.
• Being flexible in your approach to work.

Posts may require a successful Disclosure Scotland check via Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

*Care Experienced means you are, or were in the past, formally looked after by a local authority in the family home (with support from social services or a social worker) or elsewhere, for example in foster care, residential/secure care, or kinship care (with family friends or relatives).

Apply on-line at

Or from

Whether applying via the on-line application form, or by e-mailing your completed word version of the form, all applications must be received by the closing date of Sunday 06 th September 2026.

Inverclyde Council offers a wide range of benefits to employees including flexible working opportunities, attractive pension schemes, a Buy and Bank Annual Leave Scheme, career development and health and wellbeing support.

You can find out more in our Employee Benefits Booklet which is available on our website Employee Benefits - Inverclyde Council

Important Applicant Information:

• Please read the Essential Applicant Information details prior to submitting your application.

• Please note that if you apply via this website it is important that you regularly check your emails following your application submission. All further communication regarding your application, including any invite to interview and, if relevant, details of any formal offer/contract, will be done by email. You should ensure that your email is set up to receive emails from MYJOBSCOTLAND and Inverclyde Council, and that they are not filtered into any JUNK/SPAM folders.

• Inverclyde Council is an accredited Living Wage Employer paying the Living Wage Rate where required.  Please click the link to `Essential Applicant Information’ above for more information.

• Inverclyde Council is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcomes applications from all members of the community.

• Applicants must have the right to work in the UK as we do not hold a sponsorship license.

Vetting by Disclosure Scotland

If you work in regulated work (children and/or protected adults) you will be subject to obtaining a satisfactory PVG. A small number of posts require a Standard or Basic Disclosure check and the majority of all other posts will complete a Criminal Convictions Form. All disclosure checks are obtained via Disclosure Scotland. If you are the successful candidate you will be required to pay the cost of the disclosure check required for your post.

Regulatory Bodies

If your post requires registration with a Regulatory Body such as HCPC or SSSC etc., you are required to obtain and maintain registration including paying any fees for HCPC. As part of the local government pay deal, local authority staff are no longer required to pay SSSC fees.  

Further Assistance

Alternative application packs can be requested in other formats for example, Large Print, Braille and Audio. To request an alternative application pack or require further assistance to attend and/or participate in an interview, please contact the HR Recruitment Team on Show phone number or email Human Resources at: View email address on myjobscotland.gov.uk .

Armed Forces Personnel/Reservists

Inverclyde Council welcomes applications from former armed forces personnel / reservists. Many of the skills picked up during your military career could be transferred directly into a role with local government.

Disability Confident

We are a Disability Confident Leader and offer a guaranteed interview to applicants who consider themselves to be disabled and who meet the essential criteria for the job.

Flexible Working

Inverclyde Council recognises the mutual benefits of having a flexible, effective workforce to deliver the best services to our community, whilst enabling employees to balance their personal, home and work responsibilities more effectively, with a view to achieving greater job satisfaction, motivation, morale and productivity. 

Employees are able to apply for a range of options including Part-Time Working, Job share, Compressed Hours, Homeworker, Hybrid Working and Flexible Retirement. More detail can be found in the Flexible Working Policy, linked in the download section of our Employee Benefits web page.