Does anyone have any experience of doing a HNC?

[HappySonHappyMum]

My DS has been offered the chance of doing an Engineering HNC through his job which will be paid for by them. He is currently doing a Level 3 apprenticeship - but he already has and Engineering BTEC at D(star)D(star) level and a Geography A level at Grade C. Apparently if he passes the HNC he can do an HND and then a further year to get a degree. Does anyone know what this means in practice? What makes an HNC different to a degree?

My friend's son is currently doing engineering this route but not through an employer. When he left school he went to college to do HNC, then he stayed on another year to do HND.
If he got over a certain grade in HND he got direct entry into 3rd year at university. There was a choice of several universities which his college worked with. He's currently in his final year at Uni and will graduate in summer with a mechanical engineering degree.

My understanding is that HNC is broadly equivalent to 1st year of a degree and HND to 2nd year.

Traditionally HNCs/HNDs were more vocational Higher Ed qualifications offered by Polytechnics Degrees were academic qualifications offered by Universities. HNC is a level 4 ( first year of a Degree) - depends which College/Uni/Training provider is offering it but sounds like he could then move up to the HND level 5 ( second year of a degree) Students can then often top up to a full Degree ( Level 6) either at the same institution or another one . All will increase his skill set- whether he needs/ wants a full Degree is very dependent on his employer and future needs. However a full degree can be very useful if he wants to transfer out of Engineering as so many Grad Schemes just want a Degree in any subject

It was a long time ago now but both my husband and I took this route for Chemistry (I met him at college although he was in his final year and I in my first). Our respective employers paid for the course. We both qualified with a BSc in Chemistry after 6 years of part time study and work in a relevant industry while earning a decent wage...it's a good option in my opinion.

The A level equivalent BTEC Engineering will be level 3.
HNC is level 4 BTEC and equivalent to first year of a degree.
HND is a level 5 BTEC and equivalent to the second year of a degree.
A Bachelors degree is equivalent to level 6.
The advantage of the HNC are that the employers are paying for the fees, so your ds won't need to take out a loan for the tuition.
You also achieve a qualification at the end of each stage.

@HappySonHappyMum
I would recommend that he misses out the HND if he can and goes straight to the degree. I think he should look to see if Hnc plus what he has already are good enough for a degree. He needs a degree to get professional qualifications. Is the employer one who trains engineers to be professionally qualified or not? IEng or CEng?

@TizerorFizz He's been doing a Level 3 Apprenticeship for the past two and a half years which is coming to an end - he will have gained NVQs over the past three years in addition to the A level and BTECs he already has. His employer is not an Engineering company but they need engineers to maintain and run their equipment. He will be a full member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology when he completes his apprenticeship. He is thinking hard about getting the extra qualifications but is quite scared about the maths that may be involved and wondered if the HNC/HND route was more practical and vocational than the degree route.