At Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council, we employ apprentices in a variety of roles across our many different services. And we champion, coordinate and manage the apprenticeship programme within the local authority ensuring we use apprenticeships to up-skill and develop existing staff and for new recruits.
We are committed to increasing the number of apprenticeships we offer, and the occupations available are growing all the time, reflecting the wide range of services we deliver to the community. From business administration to civil engineering, MOT mechanics, paralegals, town planning, project management, accounting, social work and HGV drivers, there really is an opportunity to suit everyone.
We are very proud to be a SWAAN Ambassador, championing apprenticeships in Bath and North East Somerset.
At Bristol City Council we help the development of our staff as well as encourage people to start an apprenticeship with us. The Council apprenticeships scheme, Bristol Apprentices, includes business administration, customer service, finance, media, horticulture, ICT, engineering, sports coaching, cookery, health and social care, and HR management.
We work closely with our educational partners to ensure our apprentices get the highest standard of education and workplace support. And we encourage all apprentices to pair with a former apprentice as their mentor, enrol on e-learning courses, and be involved with apprentice-specific training courses as part of our commitment to ensuring a high quality apprenticeship experience.
We are very pleased to be a SWAAN Ambassador as we are passionate about Apprenticeships and they are a great opportunity for people to earn as they learn whilst developing there skills.
Curo is a Housing Association providing housing and independent living support for residents across Bath, Bristol and North Somerset.
We are excited about the prospect of using apprenticeships to provide leadership and management qualifications to our existing colleagues and we see SWAAN as an excellent platform to discover what other organisations are doing in this area.
Edwards is a leading developer and manufacturer of sophisticated vacuum products, abatement solutions and related value-added services
Our apprenticeship program is still in its infancy, but we are already seeing a change on the demographic profile, and the diversity of our workforce the direct contribution they are making to the business. We have seen internal mobility and succession planning increase as a result.
Edwards is proud to be a SWAAN ambassador, sharing best practice and supporting the apprenticeship journey is at the Heart of our Early Careers program. In addition to this being able to network with like minded Employers is key to our continued development and growth
FD Works is a firm of Xero accountants and business specialists that support ambitious SME owners to make bold decisions. We work in partnership with clients to provide them with a complete outsourced finance department and empower them to take control of their numbers.
The vast majority of our team have completed apprenticeship programmes, which give them all the tools they need to shape their career in whatever way that fulfils them. We’ve found that apprenticeships give them a robust foundation of learning and experience to propel their career further and faster.
The SWAAN network gives us the opportunity to share our experience as employers and shout about all the benefits of apprenticeships to both businesses and the community. We believe they are a fantastic way to enter an industry, or progress your skills within your chosen career, in an inclusive and accessible way.
Griffiths is one of the leading civil engineering and rail contractors in South West England. As a regional company, we have an inherent interest in the social, economic and environmental well-being of the areas within which we live and work and we invest in these local communities through every project we undertake. In 2018, we became part of Tarmac Plc, the UK’s leading sustainable building materials business.
Griffiths is committed to employing young people who demonstrate commitment, enthusiasm and a desire to progress their careers. Through our Apprentice+ Development Programme we offer earn-as-you-learn employment opportunities which will hopefully lead to long and successful careers in the civil engineering industry.
We became an Apprenticeships Ambassador because we believe that apprenticeships add huge value to our workforce, contributing to our continued success and the achievement of our objectives.
Hanham Secure Health is an independent provider of NHS commissioned primary healthcare services in secure environments. Our passionate team of healthcare professionals and support staff deliver high quality, person-centred primary care services to patients held within the adult prison, secure children’s and secure mental health setting across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Apprenticeships are a fantastic way for us to ensure the continuous development and empowerment of our people in order to support them to thrive and to become the best they can be. By offering new and existing employees the opportunity to learn and progress in their employment with us, we also benefit from enhanced skills, broader competencies and happy, motivated people!
Being a member of SWAAN gives us the platform to play our part in building the future workforce within the healthcare sector, to widen our prospective apprentice audience and to benefit from shared learning, shared resource and shared values.
Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK’s number 1 ‘investment supermarket’ for private investors. Hargreaves Lansdown is a secure, FTSE 100 company. We are a successful and growing business based in the heart of the vibrant City of Bristol. In 2016 we took on our first six Apprentices, and the scheme has gone from strength to strength since then.
Apprenticeships are now a critical part of our people strategy, ensuring we have the capability to continue to grow at pace. We are really enjoying seeing the difference we make by providing people from all backgrounds the opportunity to develop their skills in careers they will thrive in.
We joined the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network and learnt from others who had years of experience. We continue to learn from the Network and share our experiences with others to support their Apprenticeship journey. And our Apprentices have gained a huge amount from being part of the AAN, the Young Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network: we would highly recommend becoming part of it.
Jisc is a social enterprise that provides technology solutions to higher education, further education and research. We employ just under 1,000 people and have offices throughout the UK.
Apprenticeships are absolutely key to our talent pipelines. We have a number of really niche roles within the organisation where there is a talent shortage and apprenticeships allow us to grow our own talent. Apprenticeships also allow us to provide our employees with a solid general education in the subject they are studying as well as back this up with in house training for the more Jisc specific topics.
Northen Surveying Services is a Chartered Quantity Surveying Practice regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). We are experienced in the delivery of Quantity Surveying Cost Management and Measurement services from inception to completion on all types of projects including residential (private and social), commercial, retail, healthcare and education.
We enjoy the energy and enthusiasm of our apprentices, combined with their dedication to learn and develop. As the surveyors of tomorrow, we help build their technical knowledge and support them to develop their competencies as professionals in the detailed skills of measurement, cost and construction technology. With over 400 projects completed in the last 5 years, no two weeks are the same for them!
We are proud to be Apprenticeships Ambassadors in the South West, and grateful to SWAAN for keeping us updated on apprenticeship incentives and information, and to the SWAAN Employer Ambassadors for their mentoring and advice.
Delivered by a friendly local team as part of a dynamic national network, TaxAssist offers expert business advice and support, including Year End Accounts, Self-Assessment Tax Returns, Bookkeeping, VAT Returns, Direct Debits Payroll Share Plans,Cash Flow Management, R and D Tax Credits, Estate and Life Planning, QuickBooks, Inheritance Tax , Legal Services, Tax Investigations, Business Rescue, and Recovery, Xero, Capital Gains Tax, Making Pensions Simple, and more!
We are proud of our apprentice and have employed several over the years. If you are thinking of taking on a trainee, (Apprentice) it can seem daunting. But there is valuable advice available to help you with this worthwhile and highly rewarding opportunity.
By getting involved with SWAAN, you are entering a gateway giving you access to a wealth of experience with employment and training.
Thatchers Cider was established in 1904 by William John Thatcher and we have grown into one of the top cider-making businesses in the world. Now in our fourth generation of family cider makers, we are exceptionally proud of what we have achieved, and we are even more excited about our plans for the future. We have recognised the need to grow our talent pool to secure business growth and, in 2017, we launched our Young Talent Programme to engage with local schools and colleges and highlight opportunities at the company.
Apprenticeships are so important to us as it is all about providing real life work experience on the job, giving people the skills to develop in a business where they have the chance to grow with us over time, and supporting them to continually develop and learn. For us it is all about training young people to become the next generation of workers for the future.
As an Ambassador we are proud to also support employers, share good practice and celebrate the success of apprenticeships. Joining the Ambassador Network has been a great way to learn more about apprenticeships and how other businesses operate.
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) has a combined workforce of over 13,000 staff. Our staff are the lifeblood of our Trust and provide care to a population of more than 500,000 people in Bristol, North Somerset, Weston and the south west. We deliver in excess of 100 different clinical services across 10 different sites and these services are delivered from our Bristol city centre campus and Weston General Hospital as well as in community settings such as South Bristol Community Hospital. We also have specialist provision such as children’s services, cardiac and cancer services, and other smaller specialist services that are nationally commissioned, to a wider population through the south west and beyond.
Within the Trust, the Education Quality Team are responsible for receiving all Apprenticeship requests from existing staff, promoting Apprenticeships and new standards, setting up new employees on Apprenticeship programmes, managing provision of Apprenticeships and learner experience to ensure education is of outstanding quality throughout.
We were keen to be part of SWAAN as we are passionate about the impact that apprenticeships can have on both individuals and their careers as well as on employers and organisations.
Wessex Water has a strong history in apprenticeships and employs apprentices working in a variety of departments; from engineering and construction apprentices to laboratory technicians and customer service advisers. We offer opportunities for both new and existing staff to develop skills and knowledge through apprenticeships and this is key to our skills growth strategy. Evidence has shown that our apprentices remain with us, and become some of our most valued staff, at all levels across the business. We know that education never stands still and the drivers for talent change and skills are always in short supply.
We are a firm believer that the solution to our skills gaps and demands is a strong and effective partnership between education and industry, and apprenticeships can be at the core of the solution.
Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) is a forward thinking top 20 law firm. With locations on both sides of the Atlantic, we provide the breadth of legal experience and services to meet our clients’ needs without losing the intimacy of being connected to our different communities. And work with clients across 11 sectors, including energy and natural resources, financial institutions, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, retail and consumer, transport, logistics and infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and life sciences, technology, and private wealth.
We employ apprentices in a wide range of legal and support roles including Solicitor, Paralegal, Business Administration, Finance, IT, HR and Facilities, recruiting annually for our legal apprenticeships and offering our business support apprenticeships on a business need basis throughout the year. We launched our first apprenticeship in 2014 and since then have gone from strength to strength with our proudest moment being in January 2017 when we won Best Large Newcomer at the National Apprenticeship Awards.