Specsavers optical assistant apprenticeships close for applications on Monday 16 November, with the vacancy at its Crowborough store among those still open.

The Crowborough apprenticeship, at 9A High Street, pays £16,033.05 a year for a 37.5-hour week, including weekend working. It starts on Monday 30 November 2026 and lasts for one year and six months. The training leads to a Level 3 Optical Assistant qualification, delivered by Specsavers itself, with daily on-the-job training in store and no college to attend. Apprentices who do not already hold Level 2 English and maths must achieve that level before taking the end-point assessment.

Optical assistants are the first point of contact for customers. The role involves welcoming customers, booking optical tests, pre-screening patients, measuring frames and recommending suitable frames and lenses. Apprentices learn to interpret spectacle prescriptions, fit and adjust frames, process orders, payments and collections, and advise on lens care, contact lens handling and aftercare. They also carry out screening using optical equipment, help to spot conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration and diabetes, and learn how to recognise and record ocular emergencies.

Applicants need a GCSE in maths at grades 9 to 4, or A* to C, or an equivalent qualification. Specsavers says applicants must not have previously worked in the optical sector, and its careers page states that applicants need to have lived in the EU for three years or more and have the right to work in the UK. Before applying, candidates are advised to check that they can travel to the store every day.

Other Specsavers stores are advertising the same apprenticeship with earlier closing dates, including Stourport-on-Severn and Kidderminster, which close on 9 November, and Ryde, West Ealing and Thetford, which close on 10 November. The Crowborough vacancy was posted on 30 October, and applicants are advised to apply early, as some Specsavers vacancies have closed before their advertised date once enough applications were received.

Specsavers says its apprenticeship scheme is open to people of all ages and offers the chance to build a career in retail, management or optics while earning a full-time wage. Benefits listed on its careers site include pension auto-enrolment, the Specsavers Perks discount portal, the WeCare employee support service, a complimentary Headspace subscription, eyecare and hearcare discounts for staff and their families, an extra paid day off on birthdays, and enhanced family leave and company sick pay. On completion, apprentices become fully qualified Level 3 Optical Assistants.

Specsavers has been a family business for more than 35 years and employs over 38,000 people across 2,293 stores in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in its support offices and supply chain. Applications for the Crowborough vacancy are made through the GOV.UK Find an apprenticeship service, where candidates sign in and are then directed to apply on the company's website.