Northumberland tops the North East for apprenticeship recruitment

Northumberland County Council has exceeded national targets for the number of apprentices recruited between 2017 and 2018.

The county has recruited more than 2,000 apprentices across the county council, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust and council maintained schools.

The figures achieved put the county in the top 15% of all public sector organisations – and ahead of all other local authorities in the North East.

Public sector bodies with more than 250 staff have a target to employ an average of at least 2.3% of their staff as new apprentice starts between April 2017 and March 2021, and Northumberland has already reached 2.4%.

The apprenticeship targets were established by the Department for Education in 2017 and require all identified organisations to consider them when making workforce planning decisions.  Councils and other public sector organisations should actively consider apprenticeships, either for new recruits or as part of career development for existing staff.

Northumberland offers trade and career apprenticeships and has has recently expanded its programme to include degree level apprenticeships in business leadership and management practice

Over recent years it has developed a clear and ambitious strategy to invest in attracting talent to the organisation and committed £1m per annum for three years to support its ambition.

The programme has a great success rate, and 91% of apprentices have progressed to higher level apprenticeships or full employment in the council.

Deputy Council Leader Wayne Daley, who is also Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said:  “Exceeding these Government targets is a clear demonstration of the commitment of the council and it partner organisations in nurturing future talent for the organisation.

“Apprenticeships are incredibly valuable to the council and to other businesses and organisations in Northumberland.

“Our teams do a wonderful job with our apprenticeship programme and the results speak for themselves. We are immensely proud of the part everyone has played in creating exciting places for apprentices of all ages to work and grow.”

This news about exceeding targets follows recent success by the apprenticeship team which was shortlisted for both Recruitment Excellence and Macro Employer of the year in the a national apprenticeship awards programme – one of only five employers in the North East to be shortlisted.

They won in the North East region for recruitment excellence – taking them forward to the national apprenticeship awards, and were highly commended in the Macro Employer category.