All the help you need to take on an apprentice...

Warwickshire County Council has long been a strong advocate of apprenticeships. Ahead of National Apprenticeship Week, Louise Stolz, Business Support Advisor at Warwickshire Skills Hub, outlines how WCC offers support to businesses who are interested in either taking on an apprentice or upskilling an existing member of staff.

Apprenticeships are a great way for businesses to invest in future skills by either recruiting new talent or supporting existing staff who may want to expand their workplace skills and knowledge and achieve nationally recognised qualifications appropriate to their job role.

In Warwickshire we have a high standard of apprenticeship providers, many of whom are approved by the County Council where we train our own apprentices. The opportunities to reskill and recruit staff to a site are endless and we have two programmes that can support Warwickshire SMEs to do this: Warwickshire County Council Apprenticeship Levy Share Programme and Warwickshire Apprenticeship Progression Programme.

Our Apprenticeship Levy Share Programme helps businesses cover the associated cost of apprenticeship training, allowing them to address skills gaps and shortages in industry and support growth. We work with businesses and help them to explore which apprenticeship pathways meet their business needs, allowing us to identify a local provider and access Warwickshire County Council's own levy funds, which can be shared with small and medium sized businesses. 

Our Apprenticeship Progression Programme is available to Warwickshire businesses who are wishing to invest in the progression of their staff and build upon a previous qualification which contributes to the new needs of the business. The programme offers a £1,000 incentive which is paid directly to the employer for them to support their business needs. To be eligible, the learner must have completed a previous apprenticeship with their current employer in the last three years. There is no requirement for the apprenticeship to be at a higher level than their previous one, however it must support the business and individual employee progression.

As a Business Skills Advisor, I work with businesses to undertake a free in-depth review of all their training, skills and recruitment needs, helping to identify appropriate pathways with our training providers.

Warwickshire Skills Hub not only provides apprenticeship support but can also potentially unlock a whole variety of business services from our partners such as staff training, business growth funding, property search, tender opportunities and growing your network.

If you would like to know more about how Warwickshire Skills Hub can support your business, please contact louisestolz@warwickshire.gov.uk