Pictured above: (Front left) John Sims, Managing
Director of BET and (Right) Andy Davis, General Manager of BET and
apprentices
Over 15 young Birmingham apprentices are celebrating being hired
and employed by West Midlands contractors after the regions leading
provider of electrical installation training, Birmingham Electrical
Training (BET) put The Employer Grant scheme into action.
The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) announced a new grant
scheme in January this year offering an Employer Grant in a bid to
make it easier for employers to take on young apprentices.
BET immediately called on West Midland contractors in the
region, after revealing a 70 per cent drop in contractors taking on
young apprentices earlier in the year, to create new opportunities
for desperate young apprentices who were finding themselves without
an employer in Birmingham.
The Employer Grant offered contractors £2,500 as an
incentive to take on unemployed 16 - 17 year old apprentices.
With a deadline set by NAS of (31st) March 2010,BET has worked
day and night appealing to the West Midlands electrical contracting
community to re-open its doors to apprentices in a bid to avoid a
future skills shortage in the UK's second largest city.
It successfully placed over 15 apprentices at leading West
Midlands electrical contractors, which include Mpass Electrical,
Breese & Earle Electrical Services and MSE Electrical
Services.
Sue and John Sims, husband and wife directors behind BET have
secured one of the highest amounts of apprentice placements as part
of the scheme.
"Employers in the West Midlands were forced to shut their doors
to apprentices due to the lasting effects from the 2009
recession.
"This caused a major drop in the region, which left many young
apprentices without an employer to undertake their
apprenticeship.
"As soon as the Employer Grant was announced, we took action
immediately to offer the incentive to secure employers for our
young people, who through no fault of their own were out of work
and waiting to start an apprenticeship.
"The real risk the region faced, was a major skills shortage in
the electrical installation sector," said Sue Sims, Director of
BET.
BET plan to introduce internal campaigns targeting contractors
throughout the year to continue their commitment to providing
employers for electrical apprentices in the region.
Birmingham Electrical Training has been providing work based
learning and training in the electrical installation sector and
West Midlands for over 20-years.