Stoke-on-Trent named as one of the best places to be an apprentice

Stoke-on-Trent has been named as one of the leading locations in the United Kingdom for the take-up of apprenticeships.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been a driving force for the uptake of apprenticeships by offering them to its own workforce since the launch of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017 and also sharing its levy with other businesses.

Since April 2017:

• 544 apprenticeships have been started by council employees (new entrants and existing staff);
• 249 apprenticeships have been completed by council staff;
• 181 apprentices are currently live across a range of council departments;

Since April 2017 the council has also shared its levy with 22 different businesses including IAE, KMF, Lucideon and Teasdale Healthcare, enabling these companies to generate a range of apprenticeship opportunities in the area.

Multiverse, a specialist company who work with apprentices acquired government data from an external agency, which ranked Stoke-on-Trent second in the country only behind Wigan, with larger towns and cities such as Plymouth, Hull, Sunderland and Rotherham further down the 20-strong league table.

The data revealed; over the past four years there has been an increase of 10% of businesses setting up in Stoke-on-Trent, creating more jobs and opportunities for apprenticeships.

Councillor Jane Ashworth, leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said:

“We want to, as a city, create more opportunities for younger people and people who may be thinking of changing careers or upskilling and apprenticeships are a great way to train or re-train in a specific sector.

“You will see from the statistics that the uptake of the apprenticeship levy shows a desire from the City Council and businesses across Stoke-on-Trent to invest in our people.

“Last week during National Apprenticeship Week we also announced an exciting partnership with Staffordshire Police for seven new apprentices, which will support our priorities around creating safer communities.”

For further information on the Apprenticeship Levy-Share please contact David O’Connell or Janet Barker at apprenticeshiphub@stoke.gov.uk.