Applications for the programme are now open, with closing date 5 May, soon after which the first 10 apprentices will be rolled out to Essentra’s Bradford, Bristol, Kidlington, Kilmarnock, Newmarket, Newport, Nottingham and Portsmouth sites. The second roster of 10 will start the programme in October.
The three-year programme will be comprised of a selection of Vocationally Recognised Qualifications (VRQs), along with technical, functional and soft skill modules. Successful candidates will be offered a role at the end of the three years.
Essentra’s head of HR Richard Elford said the programme was something Essentra had been looking into for the past six months or so.
“We’re a business that has grown through acquisition so we’ve had periodic apprentices coming in throughout the business but nothing of this approach, so it’s really about offering a bit more identity and consistency of how we bring apprentices into the business,” said Elford.
“One thing which may differentiate us is that we are guaranteeing a job at the end. You don’t go into our business going through an educational programme and if you’re lucky you get a job; we’re offering a job from day one.”
Each programme will initially focus on operations skills, in print, finishing and “frontline skills”, with programmes differing slightly depending on the on-site facilities. Each apprentice will have a facilitator as well as an on-site mentor.
“Some term it as mentoring whereas we want it to be a facilitator who invests in that person. It adds to the experience and hopefully should improve our success rate,” said Elford.
The programme has been introduced as the government’s Apprenticeship Levy comes into force. The Levy takes 0.5% of a firm’s wage bill (in excess of £3m) and supplies the company with a £15,000 Levy allowance, which must be spent on apprenticeship schemes. It is part of a government plan to create three million more apprenticeships by 2020.
Elford said he hoped the Levy would address the “steady decline in numbers in the industry”.
Milton Keynes-headquartered Essentra employs around 8,000 staff across a network of 33 countries, with 13 additional sites in the UK alone.
