With youth unemployment at its highest level in ten years, Caroola Accountancy is opening applications for its latest apprenticeship cohort, building pathways into a resilient and in-demand profession.
The UK’s 13th-ranked apprenticeship employer is continuing its recruitment drive following an 80% pass rate among its previous cohort, despite worsening labour market conditions.
ONS data published in May 2026 shows UK unemployment rose to 5.0% in the three months to March, up from 4.9% and above forecasts, with 1.81 million people now out of work. Payrolled employees fell by 104,000 year on year and job vacancies dropped to 705,000, their lowest level since early 2021.
For young people the picture is considerably worse. Youth unemployment among 16 to 24 year olds has reached 16.2%, the highest rate since 2015 and above the peak recorded during the pandemic, with 729,000 young people now unemployed.
While many employers are freezing headcount, Caroola is choosing to invest, opening new apprenticeship places and offering young people a structured route into a profession recognised as one of the most resilient in the UK economy.
Research by the Association of Accounting Technicians ranks accountancy as the third most stable profession in the UK, behind only healthcare and teaching. Every business, regardless of size or sector, requires qualified financial professionals, and that structural demand has kept the profession resilient through successive economic downturns. The Hays UK Salary and Recruiting Trends 2026 report underlines the point: 68% of accountancy employers are planning to recruit this year, 90% raised salaries over the past twelve months with average increases of 3.4% ahead of the 2.2% national average, and 92% reported ongoing skills shortages.
The Caroola Academy was founded in September 2023 at the firm’s Blackpool and Warrington offices and has since supported over 30 accountancy learners across AAT, ATT and ACCA qualifications through five cohorts. Its average first-time pass rate of over 80% sits more than 15 percentage points above the national apprenticeship achievement rate of 65.4% reported by the Department for Education for 2024/25. Several graduates from the original first cohort have already progressed to qualified Accountant positions within the business.
The investment comes at a critical time for the profession. The 2025 Accounting Talent Index found the accountancy skills shortage is intensifying, while government cuts to Level 7 apprenticeship funding for over 22s, described by the ICAEW as a major blow, are restricting one of the most effective routes into chartered accountancy.
Katie Wild, Accountancy Academy Manager at Caroola, said: “The Academy gives Caroola a genuine pipeline of talent. We invest in our people at the very beginning of their careers and embed our values, behaviours and expectations early. It is a nurturing environment with lots of on-the-job learning, and our apprentices are engaged and eager to develop because of the culture they are trained in.
“Watching them graduate into Accountancy Operations is incredibly rewarding. At graduation, they have the knowledge, skills and a Level 2 AAT qualification to hold their own client base. None of this would be possible without Team Leaders Katie Rodgers and Simon Millington and the support of our training providers. The Academy builds loyal, high-performing talent and strengthens us for long-term growth.”
Caroola Accountancy is one of the UK’s largest specialist accountancy firms for contractors, freelancers, sole traders and small businesses. Headquartered in Blackpool and Warrington, the firm serves clients digitally across the UK, with its largest client concentration in London.
The firm is an FCSA Accredited Member, was ranked 13th in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers in England for 2024, and holds an ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating of 4.8/5 based on over 6,400 reviews.
