Apprentice Town

New look Skills Bank launched

17th April 2019

A new look Skills Bank that puts employers from across the Sheffield City Region in charge of their own skills and training has been launched.

Skills Bank, delivered by Calderdale College, is a business led programme developed by the Local Enterprise Partnership and using devolved government funding, matches private sector investment with public funding to help businesses invest in their workforce and improve their productivity. Funding is available to businesses that make a strong case for how the investment will deliver growth.

The service which cuts through red tape and ushers in a new culture of flexible public-sector funding works with businesses to deliver bespoke, tailor made training. It is part of a wide-ranging business support offer available through the Sheffield City Region’s Growth Hub.

Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, said: “We’re a region that has some fantastic businesses and world class training facilities, including our Further Education Colleges, the National College for High Speed Rail and the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre. The Sheffield City Region Skills Bank is another important part of our work to build a skills system that delivers for businesses, communities and the economy.

Skills Bank is an example of an innovative locally designed solution and shows the benefits of devolving resources to local areas.”

James Muir, Chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Businesses tell us that publicly funded training for businesses can be hard to access and that the system is complicated. Skills Bank and our advisors can help businesses cut through this. This is good for the region, good for the profitability of businesses and helps grow the skills of our workforce. So long as a business can show that it helps boost productivity and grow our economy it should be a straightforward transaction. It’s win-win. I’m absolutely delighted that it has gone live.”

Ebrahim Dockrat, Director of Commercial Services and Partnerships at Calderdale College, said: “Skills Bank is a fantastic initiative for Sheffield City Region and we are thrilled to be in a position where we can support local businesses.

“Our focus will be on helping employers develop the skills they need to grow their business and we bring a huge amount of expertise from our many years of working closely with the Education and Skills Funding Agency on major funded training programmes.”

Businesses interested in accessing the Skills Bank can find out more at https://skillsbankscr.co.uk/

If you are an employer or a training provider and would like to find out more about Skills Bank, visit www.scrgrowthhub.co.uk/services/skills/

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Development

Apprenticeship training provider sees record increase in placements

11th April 2019

Chesterfield’s apprenticeship training provider, Learning Unlimited, has seen a record increase in the number of apprenticeship applications this spring.

This month the apprenticeship specialist provider has been asked by regional and local employers to recruit on their behalf for more than 150 apprenticeship places – an increase of 40% on exactly the same time last year.

Learning Unlimited’s Operations Manager, Leah Shortt said: “At this time of year we normally begin to receive more enquiries from people potentially considering an apprenticeship as they prepare to finish school. This spring though we’ve also seen a rise in opportunities too as the employers we work with are planning to take on a new influx of apprentices over the summer.

“The figures show that the demand for apprenticeships keeps growing. More and more young people are interested in following that route rather than going on to university and more employers are also recognising the benefits of taking on an apprentice. They see it as a way of recruiting the new talent they need while shaping their workforce.”

The number of apprenticeships available has increased the most in business related roles. There is also demand for apprentices across other sectors ranging from engineering to IT and social media. Apprenticeship opportunities range from electricians, engineers, hairdressers, nursery assistants and social care assistants, to chef and automotive body technicians.

The team already has over 115 people booked in for registration and interview this month and will be holding an Advice Evening at Chesterfield College on Tuesday (16 April) between 5.30pm and 7.30pm for anyone interested in finding out more about apprenticeships. It will give potential apprentices the chance to talk about the opportunities available locally and regionally. It also gives people the chance to get advice about entry requirements and meet the team who will support them through their apprenticeship application.

Learning Unlimited will be joined at the Advice Evening by employer, Heathcotes Group; an organisation which works nationally to provide specialist residential care for adults with learning disabilities, mental health needs and challenging behaviours. During the evening people will get the chance to talk face-to-face with the employer, who has recruited almost 600 apprentices over the past five years and is an Apprenticeship Ambassador for Chesterfield.

Learning Unlimited, which is part of the Chesterfield College group, currently provides apprenticeships and learning programmes to more than 3,000 apprentices nationally.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Made in Chesterfield

Celebrate the best apprentices in Chesterfield

1st April 2019

Chesterfield Champion, The Derbyshire Times, along with their sister titles, is honouring the efforts of apprentices, apprentice employers and the wonderful training providers who support them.

With close to a million active apprenticeships across England alone, apprenticeship schemes have fast become a route to future employment for thousands of school leavers.

The Sheffield City Region Apprenticeship Awards, now in their third year, recognise and reward both the apprentices and their employers that are excelling across the Sheffield City Region.

Entries are now open in the following 10 awards categories and will be celebrated at a ceremony to be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Doncaster, on Thursday, June 27.

Categories include:

SME Apprentice Employer of the Year
Large Business Apprentice Employer
Diversity and Inclusion programme
Training Provider/Programme of the Year
Mentor of the Year
Higher/Degree Apprentice of the Year
Intermediate Apprentice of the Year
Business & Law Apprentice of the Year
Health & Public Service
Apprentice of the Year
Engineering/Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year

To enter the awards, simply visit the website www.scrapprenticeshipawards.co.uk where you’ll also find full details of entry criteria and what the judges are looking for.

Guests will enjoy a drinks reception, canapes and deluxe two-course meal, entertainment, as well the awards themselves which promise to have you on your feet as we celebrate the apprenticeship stars of Sheffield City Region. The deadline for entries is Friday, May 3.

There are currently more than 4,000 people currently participating in apprenticeships in Chesterfield.

There are many options available to young people after they leave school or college and choosing which is best is a big decision.

Chesterfield is the first town in the UK to declare itself an Apprentice Town – demonstrating its commitment to growing the future and careers of young people alongside business and the economy by retaining and developing young talent in the town in order to attract more employers to invest here.

Chesterfield is a town where young people, parents and businesses think ‘Apprenticeship First’.

Find out more about apprenticeships in Chesterfield

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business

IT lessons goes galactic for students from The Bolsover School

25th March 2019

School IT lessons were brought to life by the world’s leading independent end-to-end IT services company for a group of students from The Bolsover School recently.

Eight Year 9 students from the school visited DXC Technology as part of the Made in Chesterfield campaign. The visit to the Chesterfield-based company was designed to show the students how they could apply their IT skills to real-life work.

As part of the visit, students learned about IT security, teamwork and coding in a real-life working environment. They even got to send a message to the International Space Station (ISS) through Mission Zero. With the support of DXC Technology, the students wrote a simple programme to display a message to the astronauts onboard, proving a big hit with the students.

Debbie Crossley, Career Information, Advice and Guidance Officer at The Bolsover School commented on the visit: “We were very fortunate in being able to take several of our Year 9 students to visit DXC Technology as part of the Made in Chesterfield campaign. The students were amazed by the type of work carried out by DXC and were fascinated by what they learnt.

“The visit offered so many learning outcomes for us around careers, apprenticeships, technology and much more. DXC Technology made us feel very welcome and the students were so pleased they went on the trip – we’ll definitely be planning another visit to this employer.”

Made in Chesterfield is aligned with the National Curriculum in order to help students and teachers access the unique leaning experiences that Made in Chesterfield will deliver throughout the year.

The campaign, which is co-ordinated by Destination Chesterfield and Derbyshire Education Business Partnership and sponsored by University of Derby, is designed to bring together businesses, schools and training providers to showcase the sector to future school leavers.

Since Made in Chesterfield was established, more than 2,500 young people from schools have spent time in the area’s manufacturing and engineering businesses. The visits to businesses operating within the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) sector are being organised by Derbyshire Education Business Partnership.

DXC Technology is one of a number of companies from Chesterfield’s STEM sector which are opening their doors to students from across the borough in an effort to raise awareness of job opportunities.
Nicola Mills, Global Account Delivery Executive at DXC Technology explained why she thought the visits are so important: “Being a STEM Ambassador is a truly rewarding role; it creates the opportunity to work with young people like the ones from The Bolsover School at our recent Made in Chesterfield event. Events like this enable them to explore the wider world of technology that is outside of their normal day to day reach and hopefully inspires them to consider careers that they hadn’t previously.”

“As a technology company, it is vital for us to support the development of talent, the world is evolving and we are moving to a truly digital age. We can’t meet these demands without the foundations of a digital workforce; our graduate and apprentice programmes help make that achievable. We are all looking forward to a follow-up with The Bolsover School and to see the results of their Hour of Code being played on the International Space Station in May.”

Alongside the educational activity, there is also a programme of business events including a manufacturing conference, manufacturing and engineering forum, business masterclasses and networking events taking place throughout the year as part of Made in Chesterfield.

In addition to Destination Chesterfield, Derbyshire Education Business Partnership, University of Derby, Made in Chesterfield is also supported by, MSE Hiller, United Cast Bar Ltd, NatWest and Placing Futures.

To find out more about Made in Chesterfield or to arrange a school visit, please visit here.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Destination Chesterfield, Made in Chesterfield

Chesterfield’s Premier Inn development offers employment to local people

20th March 2019

Chesterfield College and Premier Inn have joined together to offer a sector based work academy offering work experience opportunities for local people to gain the skills they need to be offered employment at the new 92 bed hotel on Elder Way which is soon to be handed over by Jomast Developments when work is completed in transforming the former department store.

Sixty local people joined the academy which is supported by Chesterfield Borough Council with a guaranteed interview at the end of the course. Of these, 20 were offered jobs at the hotel.

Councillor Terry Gilby, cabinet member for economic growth: said “One of the council’s key priorities is to create a thriving borough.”

“For a long period after the Chesterfield Co-operative closed down we had an empty, derelict building. Jomast Developments is in the process of completely transforming it into a 92 bed Premier Inn hotel which is offering new jobs for local people which is positive news for the borough.”

Lee Kirton, Chesterfield College’s work skills delivery manager, said: “This has been a fantastic opportunity for local people. We’ve been working with the local Job Centre Plus and the borough council to put on a sector-based work academy.

“It’s been a fantastic success for the learners, ourselves and the local Job Centre Plus.”

Mark Hill, commercial property director of Jomast Developments, which is leading the transformation of the former Co-operative department store, said:

“Although not yet complete, the new Premier Inn will be a fantastic environment for the new team to work in. It’s light, airy and contemporary. The team and I are looking forward to handing over the building to Premier Inn shortly.”

Further jobs will be created in the former Co-operative department store in when work is completed by Jomast Developments on the basement and ground floor of the building into leisure and dining space.

The development is part of the Chesterfield Borough Council-led Northern Gateway development which will also see a new Saltergate multi-storey car park and a new enterprise centre for small to medium sized businesses on part of the site of Holywell Cross (Donut) car park.

Find out more about the Northern Gateway

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Development

Council supports local businesses through business rates relief scheme

13th March 2019

Chesterfield businesses are saving more than £1 million in business rates in a scheme administered by Chesterfield Borough Council.

The Government announced in the budget last October it will provide a business rates retail discount scheme for occupied retail premises with a rateable value of less than £51,000 in each of the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21.

The value of discount should be one third of the bill, and must be applied after mandatory reliefs and other discretionary reliefs have been applied.

The council administers the business rates relief as part of the discretionary rate scheme, offering the relief to around 362 businesses in the borough, saving them a total of around £1,088,520.

Councillor Amanda Serjeant, Chesterfield Borough Council’s Deputy Leader, said: “Creating a thriving borough is one of the council’s key priorities, which is why we have contacted all eligible local businesses to make sure they have taken advantage of the business rates reliefs they are entitled to.“

“This is one of a number of measures including the Local Labour clause that we take to support businesses in the borough.”

The council has adopted a Local Labour clause in every major planning application it accepts, which requires developers to provide a strategy that uses materials supplied by local companies. This has meant that local suppliers have benefitted from potentially more than £2.3 million worth of business.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Development, Visiting

Increase in grant funding for construction apprentices

12th March 2019

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) announced a major boost in funding to help employers take on construction apprentices.

From 1 April, CITB’s attendance grants to employers will increase to £2,500 per year, while achievement grants will rise to £3,500 for companies whose apprentice successfully completes their training.

This is an overall funding increase from £10,250 to £14,500 for each apprentice an employer takes on – an uplift of over 30% on existing rates.

CITB has decided to increase employer funding at a time when construction apprenticeships are falling. This is due to factors such as economic uncertainty caused by Brexit and employers adjusting to new apprenticeship reforms, including the Apprenticeship Levy.

But construction needs many more learners not only starting, but completing their apprenticeships and joining the workforce. CITB’s forecast shows the industry needs to fill some 168,500 new jobs over the next five years, and to grow much more of its own domestic workforce, given likely limits on future access to migrant workers.

Stephen Radley, CITB Director of Strategy and Policy said: “We know that taking on an apprentice is a big investment for employers who have seen the cost of doing this go up significantly in recent years.”

“These grant increases are designed to help employers of all sizes take on apprentices and ensure those learners complete their courses.”

“CITB support isn’t just about money, but we believe that this major rise in grant funding will improve both apprenticeship starts and completions in our sector.”

This announcement follows extensive consultation with employers across Great Britain through discussions, online surveys and feedback from employer events. In the coming weeks, CITB will share further measures to support apprenticeships in construction.

Sarah Garry, Skills Manager of Build UK said: “We welcome the increase in funding for apprenticeships which should make a real difference for all employers, regardless of the size of their business. This is one piece of the puzzle. CITB and industry working together will ensure the apprenticeship process is easy to understand and is accessible for everyone.”

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders said: “The increase in grant funding is good news for employers in the construction industry, particularly small construction firms. It will allow SME businesses to take on even more apprentices, including for specialist courses in order to meet the construction industry’s demand for highly-skilled individuals.”

For more information visit the CITB website.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Development

Apprentice and boss swap roles for National Apprenticeship Week

8th March 2019

Learning Unlimited’s very own apprentice, Josh Bown, has accepted his next big challenge and today steps temporarily into the role of Operations Manager as part of the activities around National Apprenticeship Week (4-8 March).

While the 17-year-old business administration apprentice will learn what it’s like to manage the team, Operations Manager Leah Shortt will be getting a reminder of what it’s like to be in a less senior role.

Josh will be taking on daily tasks in Leah’s calendar including taking a lead role in the weekly departmental meeting, joining a high level strategic meeting with senior managers and planning a marketing campaign. Meanwhile, Leah, who has worked with the national provider of apprenticeships for five years, will be seeing what it is like to be in Josh’s shoes.

As part of the job swap, Leah will be picking up Josh’s duties; talking to potential customers, answering enquiries and uploading content to the Learning Unlimited website, among other things.

Learning Unlimited, which is part of the Chesterfield College group, provides apprenticeships and learning programmes to more than 3,000 apprentices nationally and has over 30 apprentices within its own organisation.

Leah said: “This will be a learning opportunity for the both of us. Josh has become a really valuable part of the team since he joined us but this will give me the chance to find out more about the daily challenges he faces as an apprentice within our organisation.”

“As a leading provider of apprenticeships, we want to lead by example. We have a strong reputation for developing talent through apprenticeships and many members of our team have joined as apprentices and progressed up the career ladder. This is an important exercise to see just how well we support our own apprentices and will demonstrate what we’re doing right and areas where we may be able to support our apprentices even further.”

Josh said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of switching roles. This is a great opportunity for me to learn more about how decisions are made and help me develop new skills. It’s always good to learn new things and I’ll also be able to use it as part of my learning towards my business administration qualification.”

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business

Local estate agents hires second apprentice

6th March 2019

Chesterfield Champion Lime Living Estate Agents has strengthened its Chesterfield team through the recruitment of a new apprentice.

Charly Kemp (pictured with Director, Jamie Wajs) will be studying for an NVQ Level 2 in Business and Administration and is the second apprentice to join the team.

Jamie commented: “We have found the apprenticeship route to be successful in the past and we look forward to supporting Charly in her development within our business”.

Having been established for over 10 years in Chesterfield, Lime Living Estate Agents, based on Saltergate, has continued to grow from initially offering residential lettings to now providing sales, land, auction and commercial services. They aim to offer a fresh and straight forward approach to all property matters for customers and their requirements.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Destination Chesterfield

Heathcotes Group becomes Apprenticeship Ambassador

6th March 2019

Chesterfield-based care provider, Heathcotes Group, is helping to increase local apprenticeship participation after joining the town’s Apprenticeship Ambassador Network.

Apprenticeship Ambassadors are businesses and organisations which sign up to actively promote and celebrate apprenticeships in Chesterfield and their benefits in strengthening the workforce. Chesterfield is the first town in the UK to declare itself an ‘Apprentice Town’, demonstrating a commitment to growing the careers of young people alongside the economy. Chesterfield Borough Council is at the forefront of the Apprentice Town initiative which, with support from Ambassadors, is raising awareness of apprenticeships and advocating cooperative working across the education, business and learning community.

Heathcotes’ first engagement as an Ambassador was a headline speech at the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Employability and Skills Conference, held at the Ringwood Hall Hotel & Spa, where Managing Director Brendan Kelly spoke about the importance of embedding apprenticeship and skills initiatives into workforce development strategies to facilitate business growth. Heathcotes Group specialises in person-centred residential care for adults with learning disabilities, mental health needs and associated challenging behaviours. The company has been developing local employment through an award-winning apprenticeship programme involving sector-based work academies established in partnership with Chesterfield College.

Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, Cllr Tricia Gilby, who opened proceedings at the conference, said: “One of the council’s priorities is to ensure that local people benefit from the economic growth that we are seeing in Chesterfield, which is why, with our partners, we established Chesterfield as an Apprentice Town. It has been wonderful to hear Brendan highlight the importance of developing the skills of your workforce and to learn about the value Apprenticeships have brought to a growing organisation like the Heathcotes Group. We are delighted that the Heathcotes Group has chosen to join the Town’s Apprenticeship Ambassador Network to help raise awareness of the benefits of Apprenticeships in our community.”

Brendan Kelly said: “Heathcotes are uniquely placed to advocate Chesterfield apprenticeships as an Apprenticeship Ambassador. Our work-based learning formula has achieved almost 600 apprenticeship starts over the past five years, including staff at our Chesterfield head office and numerous support workers at our services throughout this region. It has been been a fundamental part of Heathcotes’ sustained growth in a sector which is currently facing a number of challenges. I believe that apprenticeships are enormously important to grow the local economy and we are keen to help establish Chesterfield as a town where young people, parents and businesses think apprenticeship first.”

“Heathcotes are fully committed to supporting the Apprentice Town partnership to develop Chesterfield as a leading apprenticeship destination. We enjoyed being part of the Chesterfield & North Derbyshire Employability and Skills Conference and we are looking forward to leading and participating in various other events in 2019.”

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Destination Chesterfield

Lets Celebrate Chesterfield

5th March 2019

March is most certainly a month of celebration for Chesterfield. Local and national events and acknowledgements come together to create an opportunity to showcase how we excel as a town.

The annual Celebrate Chesterfield event returns to the Winding Wheel on 20 March, with around 300 delegates set to attend and join us in not only celebrating the recent successes of our town but also looking to the future and ensuring that we have the best plans in place to continue the investment and success for future generations.

More than £1 billion of investment is currently taking place in Chesterfield. With huge investment underway in the town and massive infrastructure and development on its way (such as HS2’s arrival due in 2033), it’s imperative that we have a skilled workforce to support this. That is why apprenticeships are key to Chesterfield’s economy.

As a town we really excel with Apprenticeships – continually creating them, supporting and raising awareness of them and as usual we’re one step ahead of other towns. For example, we were the first town to establish our Apprentice Town initiative two years ago in order to keep apprenticeships in the spotlight with young people, schools and employers.

You can expect to hear a lot about apprenticeships in March however as nationally they will be celebrated from 4 – 8 March as part of the National Apprenticeship Week.

It’s important that apprenticeships are not just given cursory consideration once a year. If you’re a parent of a child, talk to them about the value of apprenticeships at the same time as you may talk about university, A Levels and college.

Last month we were able to strengthen links between education providers, local businesses and school leavers at the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Employability and Skills Conference. One thing that came through loud and clear at the conference is that employers are looking for school leavers, and there are job and career opportunities ready and waiting for them now.

Let’s create a bright future for our young people right here in Chesterfield so that the town can continue to thrive as a destination, a place to do business, build a career and, importantly, call home.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Blog, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield