Hudson Contract is celebrating having helped more than 80 apprentices begin a career in construction with its Apprentice Sponsorship Scheme. The company is encouraging other firms to host similar schemes to help address the skills shortage in the industry.
Launched in 2011, the Apprentice Sponsorship Scheme offers 12 months of financial support to employers to help them take on an apprentice. As part of the scheme, Hudson Contract pays 50% of each apprentice’s wages for the first year of their training. It has helped more than 60 firms to date.
The firm hosted a celebration for its apprentices last week. Attended by school and college career advisors and construction industry professionals, the event promoted the scheme and rewarded four apprentices with special prizes on the night.
Hudson Contract founder and chairman David Jackson said: “We are passionate about ensuring young people have every opportunity to begin a career in construction. We recognised several years ago that there is a real need to develop places for apprentices, which is why we created our apprenticeship programme.
“The introduction this year of a new national apprenticeship levy and training service is very welcome, but it will not be enough on its own. We would really like to see other companies in the region offer a sponsorship scheme like ours, which has proven to be successful. The scheme is really simple – and it has to be, to ensure there’s plenty of take-up in an area where only a handful of construction firms have more than five employees.
“I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who joined us at the event last week, and to congratulate all the apprentices who have participated in our scheme, especially those who won prizes on the night.”
Hudson Contract aims to support another 20 apprentices this year through the scheme. To find out more about the Hudson Contract Apprentice Sponsorship Scheme visit www.hudsoncontract.co.uk/why-hudson/apprenticeships/.
