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Pathways to Planning aims to widen the pool of graduates entering planning roles in local authorities. The scheme is an exciting opportunity for councils and graduates alike, offering a talent pipeline and excellent value for money.
Pathways to Planning is a graduate recruitment programme which offers councils an affordable and reliable way to attract and retain new planners. The programme covers all marketing and recruitment costs, and additionally offers a bursary to facilitate the graduates’ postgraduate study and MRTPI accreditation.
Pathways to Planning launched in September 2023 and has delivered more than 80 new planners in almost 60 different local authorities.
Councils can register their interest in our next intake, hiring graduates who will start work in September 2025.
Pathways to Planning offers councils:
- marketing and recruitment of a diverse pool of candidates at no cost
- a bursary of at least £5,000 to enable your graduate’s postgraduate study and MRTPI accreditation
- a community of support for your graduate(s) and your team.
Pathways to Planning offers councils a bursary to help fund graduates’ postgraduate study and MRTPI accreditation to progress in their career at your council. Our second cohort has offered councils a choice of bursary, and we will confirm the bursary option(s) for Cohort 3 soon:
- a bursary of £5,000 to support graduates undertaking the Chartered Town Planner (Level 7 apprenticeship, second entry point) qualification. Councils can use the bursary to cover the cost of graduates’ travel to campus, fund field trips and other L&D, or cover the cost of back-filling your graduate’s role on their study days.
- a bursary of £10,000 to fund graduates’ course fees on an RTPI-accredited Master’s degree.
Councils in England are now encouraged to express interest in Cohort 3 of the programme, which will recruit up to 120 graduates to start work in September 2025. Please read our guidance document to discover how the programme could work for your council before you complete the application form.
We will open the formal sign-up process in autumn 2024 but encourage local authorities to express interest now and get in touch if a conversation would be helpful for your Planning and/or HR teams.
For more information or to book an introductory call, please contact the Pathways to Planning team at [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
Council Communications Toolkit
If you are a council participating in Cohort 2 or Pathways to Planning, we have a comms toolkit which you may find useful. It contains templates and guidance for councils to help promote the Pathways to Planning programme on their channels.
Information for applicants
If you are a graduate and are interested in applying for the programme, visit the dedicated website for applicants at pathwaystoplanning.org.