At Barratt Developments, we are growing to meet the demand for houses in Britain and we are the only major house builder to achieve a HBF 5 star rating for twelve consecutive years. Sustainability is one of our core principles; not only are our people leading a customer-focused future of housebuilding, but it’s a green future that they can be proud of.

An apprenticeship is the perfect way to enter a career in housebuilding, and the housing shortage is driving huge demand for the skills and qualifications that we teach our young people. At Barratt Developments, we strongly embrace diversity and inclusion, and we are proud to be an employer of choice in the industry. Our business is full of people who started out as apprentices and as we help our young people develop, it gives them a great sense of purpose when they succeed with us.

We are proud to be a SWAAN Ambassador, championing apprenticeships and raising awareness collaboratively with other employers within the South-West. Together we can increase the profile of apprenticeships and the incredible benefits they can bring not only to us as employers but to young and old alike wanting to embark on a new and exciting journey! We hope to continue to strengthen our partnership with SWAAN moving forward.

The Co-op is a large, national company with different business offering apprenticeships across a range of sectors within the South West.

As our biggest business, Retail is where most customers engage with Co-op. There’s more to running our stores than you might think, and our Retail Apprenticeships help staff learn everything they need to know to thrive in this fast-paced environment. A Retail Apprenticeship develops your industry knowledge and give you a fantastic set of skills – like a better understanding of branding and marketing, or the confidence and judgement to lead a successful team. We’ve developed a range of programmes to help build a successful Retail career progressing right through to a Degree Apprenticeship.

In Funeral Care, we currently offer Level 2 Funeral Team Member and Level 3 Funeral Director. However, we are also part of the Trailblazer team currently informing the development of two further apprenticeships in the sector. We are always keen to promote the benefits to individuals and organisations, and believe our staff have a responsibility to do that as Co-op members and employees.

We are an advocate for Apprenticeships as a tool for career kick-starting, career progression and career change. We are an Apprenticeships Champion because, as an organisation, we are passionate about apprenticeships and believe they are a credible alternative to academic education routes.

Daniel Thwaites is a family owned hospitality organisation with 20 Inns (pubs with bedrooms) and 8 four star Hotels with Spa facilities and 1 rosette restaurants. We also have over 240 tenant-leased pubs across the UK and employ a small number of brewers whose own-brand ale is exclusively sold in Daniel Thwaites properties.

We have developed an ‘emerging leaders’ talent programme to appeal to all employees who want to advance their careers or develop in their current roles. Most apprenticeships have become ‘career pathways’ to appeal to a wider range of ages, and coaching and mentoring has ensured a high quality experience by allowing our line managers at all levels the ability to flex their style. We alsways ensure that apprenticeship programmes are part of these conversations.

Being an Apprenticeships Ambassador, we appreciate the opportunity to get support from and to give support to other Ambassadors as well as the information sent out.

Lloyds Banking Group has been a long-standing supporter of apprenticeships. Being primarily a UK based bank, it is vitally important that we develop and cultivate skills over a lifetime to meet the ever changing needs presented to all of us.

So far over 10,000 colleagues have embraced apprenticeships and we have around 2,000 on any one of 25 programmes at any point in time ranging from level 2 Customer Services right through to level 7 Digital Leadership.

We were also one of the first organisations to embrace levy sharing, and now have over 500 apprentices working for SMEs across the country whose development we financially support.

Apprenticeships are a critical part of ensuring we maintain our skills and support new colleagues as they join. Alongside our internal learning offerings, traineeships and our extensive activity in early years development apprenticeships form the bedrock of how we all ensure we maintain and develop future skills.

Since the 1970s, Midas Group has been delivering a diverse range of projects, including refurbishments & fit outs, construction projects, interior & retail schemes as well as property development and energy solutions, across a variety of sectors.

As a regional contractor with a local supply chain, employing local people and a longstanding commitment to the local communities in which we work, we are able to create a positive lasting legacies for future generations.

We invest in Apprentices throughout our business to create and develop our future workforce; ensuring our sustainability for the future. And we actively support and encourage our supply chain partners to do the same.

The National Trust is the UKs largest conservation charity and the 2nd largest landowner in the UK (after the Queen). As a consequence, we own and protect 780 miles of coastline, look after over 500 properties including nine lighthouses.

Our apprenticeship programme has grown from 7 in 2016 to over a 130 by the end of 2021 with apprentices enrolled during this time on over 50 different routes and in over 120 different locations. And although the Trust was severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis in 2020, we were still able to expand the offering to more job families and locations as part of our recovery during 2021 and beyond.

We are passionate about creating apprenticeship opportunities and see apprenticeships as part of the DNA of our business. We are also collaborating with other organisations and recognised bodies to craft new apprenticeship Standards and create a high quality apprenticeship experience through our Trailblazer activities, support and delivery.

Shared Apprenticeships is a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) initiative set up to help employers who want to support the development of skills whilst working on regional contracts, but are not able to offer a full term apprenticeship and who wish to support the future workforce through to completion of their apprenticeship. Apprentices are recruited, trained and managed through the scheme. The shared element means apprentices have the opportunity for fixed-term on-the-job placements with one or more construction companies or projects during their apprenticeship.

We celebrate apprenticeship starts, graduations and progressions, and share case studies and insights. We provide mentoring and coaching as part of our commitment to delivering a high quality apprenticeship experience. And we work proactively to source onward placements for our apprentices to help ensure we see them through to completion and onward progressions. We truly believe Apprenticeships are the best route into the industry.