York promotes ‘Skills For Life’ during National Apprenticeship Week

City of York Council is celebrating the value, benefits and opportunities apprenticeships bring to individuals and businesses during National Apprenticeship Week next week [5-11 February].

The continued theme for the 17^th annual National Apprenticeship Week is ‘Skills for Life’, encouraging everyone to consider how apprenticeship training can help individuals of all ages, abilities, and stage in their career to develop new skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career and help employers to develop a diverse workforce with future-ready skills.

Numerous apprenticeship opportunities are available within York’s key and growth sectors including Hospitality, Engineering, Health Care and Early Years.  

Apprenticeship events will be hosted throughout the week, including York College’s Apprenticeship Employer Fair on Monday [5 Feb] and Derwent Training’s  Apprenticeship Open Event on Tuesday [6 Feb]. For more details see  www.york.gov.uk/ApprenticeshipEvents

Councillor Pete Kilbane, City of York Council’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy and Transport, including Skills Development and Apprenticeships, said: 

“Supporting apprentices and apprenticeships in York is part of our Council Plan commitment to ensure equality of opportunity for residents, prioritising high quality skills and learning for all.

“Apprenticeships benefit not just the apprentice, but support businesses to upskill their workforce, expand and diversify, and they continue to play an important role in the city’s economic recovery from the impact of the covid pandemic.

“National Apprenticeship Week provides an opportunity for us all to learn more about what apprenticeships can offer us.”

City of York Council supports apprenticeships in York through its impartial Apprenticeship Hub, which offers information and advice to potential apprentices and local organisations, as well as through the Apprenticeship Levy Transfer scheme.

The national scheme enables apprenticeship levy-paying employers to use a percentage of their levy to fully fund the apprenticeship training and assessment costs, from entry level to master’s degree level, for small to medium sized businesses in their area, helping connect them to their future workforce or boost productivity by upskilling existing teams.

To date, the council has approved over £300,000 worth of apprenticeship levy transfer requests to support both new apprentice recruits and existing employees in York businesses to develop their skills.

For free, impartial information email york.apprenticeships@york.gov.uk or visit www.york.gov.uk/yorkapprenticeships.

For vacancies to go www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship and for information about T Levels got to www.tlevels.gov.uk/.