Employers work together to offer more apprenticeships

The College has brought together three local businesses to bring more apprenticeship opportunities to young people in Barnsley through the apprenticeship levy.

“This was a great opportunity to support employers and build relationships in the wider community to provide more apprenticeships and to help young people to get the relevant skills and training to help them achieve their careers.”

The collaboration between Masonite, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of internal and exterior doors and College partners of the Masonite Academy; civil engineering firm CRS; and T3 Training and Development; has resulted in the transfer of excess apprenticeship levy funds from Masonite to CRS. This has enabled CRS to provide additional apprenticeship opportunities for two apprentices who will conduct their apprenticeship with T3 Training and Development and the College.

The apprenticeship levy is a fund designed to help companies offer more apprenticeships. The levy is a tax payable by all UK employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3million. Employers can then access the fund to help pay for their apprenticeship training costs. Any unused funds in an employer’s levy account will expire after 24 months but up to 25% can be transferred to other employers to help provide additional apprenticeship opportunities.

The College was approached by T3 Training and Development, a partner training provider with the College, to see if any of their other partners had scope to help CRS. The College then put all three businesses in touch, resulting in the collaboration.

Helen Weatherston, Director of Business Development at the College, said: “We work with local, regional, and national businesses to understand the skills students need to progress and help support the local economy.

“This was a great opportunity to support employers and build relationships in the wider community to provide more apprenticeships and to help young people to get the relevant skills and training to help them achieve their careers.”

Gavin Day, Organisational Development Manager at Masonite, said: “At Masonite we have a specific purpose; ‘We Help People Walk Through Walls’. We achieve this physically by providing great products for our customers and metaphorically through our culture, ensuring our colleagues receive the development they need both personally and professionally.

“Our purpose also extends externally to support people in our local community too, removing barriers where we can and helping people achieve great things. We are therefore delighted to be supporting apprentices Alfie Wright and Bailey Barker at CRS, by funding their apprenticeship qualification. We look forward to witnessing their achievements as they learn and progress over the next two years at Barnsley College, home of the Masonite Academy.”

Paul Senior, Director at CRS, added: “We are very grateful to Masonite and Gavin for agreeing to assist. CRS have made real efforts to increase our number of apprentices in the last year, seeing these as a way to solidify our workforce of the future. T3 Training and Development have assisted us with many of these but we had filled our quota, so they approached their wide contact base to see if any other levy payers had scope to help. Thankfully Gavin at Masonite offered to help, which secures Alfie’s and Bailey’s apprenticeship starting this year.

“After meeting Gavin and discussing his vision of local companies being able to offer opportunities to Masonite academy students that aren’t employed by Masonite after the academy, it really was a chance for them to look at alternatives within the sector that they have committed to studying. CRS are also glad to be one of the first local companies on board with Gavin’s vision.”

Nicola Barton, Training Manager at T3 Training and Development, added: “T3 Training and Development work hard to support employers and young people in the community and want to ensure apprenticeship opportunities are available to everyone. Building these relationships is key and I’d like to thank all involved in the process to make it as quick and as smooth as possible.”