National Apprenticeship Week: Celebrating skills, opportunity, and growth

Solent Business and Skills Solutions (SBSS) has been touring the region during National Apprenticeship Week, bringing fantastic opportunities to job seekers and employers, and celebrating the significant impact apprentices make to our businesses and communities

The Solent Business and Skills Solutions team at the Business and IP Centre, Southampton

National Apprenticeship Week highlights the significance of apprenticeships in providing people with pathways to careers while equipping industries with skilled and dedicated individuals. From traditional trades to emerging fields, apprenticeships offer a dynamic blend of hands-on experience and formal learning, supporting people into better quality jobs and creating a pipeline of skilled professionals.

Southampton City Council has first-hand experience of the great benefits of apprenticeships in driving innovation, enhancing efficiency, and training new skills and is working with SBSS in making it easier for businesses to take on apprenticeships, for example through the Transfer to Transform scheme, which supports the prosperity of Southampton.

Transfer to Transform gives employers the opportunity to support each other by utilising unspent levy funding, with large businesses able to pledge unspent apprenticeship levy funds which are then used to support SMEs with the costs of apprenticeship training.

Alex Grant of Way Ahead, a Southampton based care provider, said: "As a small independent provider, we simply couldn’t afford the training costs to fund staff to complete NVQs. The support, both financial and in how to apply, from SBSS has been absolutely invaluable. I have been able to have cohorts of learners develop in their role, confidence, and abilities. The difference it has made cannot be under-estimated."

Councillor Sarah Bogle, Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Southampton City Council, said: "National Apprenticeship Week is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the magnificent work of apprentices and employers in giving back to our community. This supports the 'Southampton Pound' initiative which is all about keeping more wealth in the local economy.

"Through apprenticeships and the Transfer to Transform scheme, businesses and organisations throughout Southampton and the wider region are able to make a real difference in supporting people into much needed job roles and giving individuals the opportunity to train, grow and shine in their chosen careers."

Find out about the fantastic opportunities open to people and businesses through Solent Business and Skills Solutions.