Member Article

Record Figures Announced For National Apprenticeship Week

As National Apprenticeship Week is coming to an end one North East company is announcing a resounding success in the field.

JB Skills Training has in the last two months placed people of all ages on a huge 128 apprenticeships, smashing even their own targets of 100 before the end of March.

And what the company is particularly pleased about is that people already in work are filling the majority of those apprenticeships, where the employer is investing in up-skilling their existing workforce.

According to the Sunderland based provider that means the region knows that there is value in growing own talent.

Dave Macmillan, managing director of JB Skills Training, said:

“As a company we are approaching our second anniversary and we recently achieved the £1m turnover mark. Things are set to grow further with the resurgence of apprenticeships – basically a combination of training in the job and learning qualifications at the same time.

“Many companies are signing existing staff up to improve their knowledge, increase their value to the company and show them they are appreciated in the team.

“Other companies are using the apprenticeship scheme as a way to grow their team in a cost effective and fool proof way, knowing that the training and learning will create an ideal candidate for them.”

JB Skills Training employ three apprentices in the team, out of the 30 plus members in the office, so not only do they recommend other companies to do this but they also take their own advice.

The training provider has recently won some sizable contracts, including a £300k apprenticeship contract with local company Learning Curve that will see over 220 new apprenticeships delivered this year.

They have also won a £898k contract with national provider HIT training. This contract will support a large number of people with low levels of literacy and numeracy both in the local area and wider afield nationally.

Also concentrating on launching new study programmes across the UK to prepare people for the next step into apprenticeship, JB Skills is forging partners with many forward thinking educational establishments, including New College Swindon. Dave concluded:

“We have people from 16 to 65 on apprenticeship schemes both in the North East and the Midlands and are expanding into new territory quickly. It is clear to us that apprenticeships are the way forward for many companies across a wide rage of industries.

“It is, of course, music to our ears that the Government want to create 3 million new opportunities….this does seem ambitious so we look forward to the announcement on 18th March at the end of National Apprenticeship Week, as to how they will achieve this. We will then of course respond as a business appropriately!!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Antonia Brindle .