The West of England Apprenticeship Service
31st January 2023
Are you looking to recruit new talent and skills into your business? Or maybe you want to offer development opportunities to your current team? Apprenticeships are not just for school leavers! There are hundreds of apprenticeships available across different levels and sectors. If you have never used apprenticeships before, just want to find out more, or you need support, we are here to help…
The West of England Apprenticeship Service offers a free, independent, and impartial apprenticeship support service to SMEs based in the West of England – as part of the West of England Combined Authority’s Workforce for the Future programme. Over the last year we have already helped SMEs create over 40 new apprenticeship starts in the region and want to support more businesses based in North Somerset!
Weston-Super-Mare based business Safe Digging Ltd received support from WEAS whilst looking to recruit a surveying apprentice into the business. We spoke with Surveying Director Jeff Parslow about his experience:
“Throughout the entire process we have been supported fully. Any questions or concerns have been answered within a very quick time scale and as a small company we have had complete faith in the service and what is being delivered is very professional.”
Fast forward a year and apprentice Bradley is half-way to completing his apprenticeship and Safe Digging Ltd have returned to WEAS for further support to take on another apprentice! For most small businesses funding is always one of the first hurdles when thinking about recruiting. However, as well as accessing support to from WEAS, Safe Digging Ltd also benefited from our Share to Support scheme by accessing a large employers unspent apprenticeship levy, which covered the full training costs of Bradley’s apprenticeship!
We’re keen to support more SMEs in North Somerset, if you think you could benefit from our support, please get in touch with the team on apprenticeships@wtpn.org.uk or see our website www.wtpn.org.uk/apprenticeship-support-service.
