Speller Metcalfe and Travis Perkins helps apprentices tool up

Published by

Nicky Godding

A training grant, funded by Malvern contractor Speller Metcalfe and sponsored by Travis Perkins, is helping to support five new apprentices from the Heart of Worcestershire College.

Speller Metcalfe set up the Worcestershire Construction Apprentice Academy as a non-profit charity in 2013. Since then, along with Travis Perkins, the academy has supported over 30 apprentices and employers from across the county.

The scheme provides £500 funding to the employer, helping to contribute to an apprentice's wages, and students each receive a £250 voucher from Travis Perkins to spend in their local stores, helping them to build their own set of tools to boost their apprenticeship training.

"We wanted to find a way to help support young people wanting to join the construction industry, as we would hear stories of how finances were becoming a barrier to both employers and apprentices - whether that was affording petrol to get to work, their own set of tools or paying salaries," said Mark Hudgeon, Regional Director at Speller Metcalfe.

To qualify, an employer must be located in Worcestershire, a micro-business (employing less than 10 people), and taking on apprentices within bricklaying or carpentry.

Mike Ebbs, Key Account Manager for Travis Perkins, said: "This is a great incentive from Speller Metcalfe and will assist youngsters going into the industry as apprentices to excel in their chosen career. By giving the students the opportunity to build their own kit it will give them a sense of ownership over their own tools to look after and maintain as a professional tradesperson."

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.