Pictured left to right - Apprentice Hannah Searle, Apprentice Abbie Webb, Talent Adviser Ken Holder, Council Leader Ian Bowyer, Apprentice Luke Brindle, Chief Executive Tracey Lee, Apprentice Jake Holmes, Organisational Development and Talent Assistant Rachel Durand and Apprentice Kate Hanton.

Council top employer for school leavers

Plymouth City Council has won the award for top Public Sector employer for school leavers in the UK.

The Council was placed in the top 20 over all for the national award, alongside organisations like BP, Virgin Media, Superdrug, Barclays and Bentley.

These awards are decided by the opinions of school leavers and apprentice trainees across the UK who have completed surveys analysing everything about their employers and training programmes, from skills development, career progression and training to company culture.

Council Leader Ian Bowyer said: “We are fully committed to ensuring our young people have the opportunity to learn and develop their skills with Plymouth City Council. I am so pleased that our apprentices are having a great employer experience with us. Our Learning and development team have worked extremely hard to develop an apprenticeship programme which provides learners the opportunity to develop their careers.”

Over the last five years the Council has developed a successful and award winning apprenticeship program, which has supported over 230 young people into employment.

Chief Executive Tracey Lee said: “We have a culture of growing our own talent by introducing new staff and skills to support the organisation which in turn helps us provide a better service for our residents. We know that our people are one of our most important assets and we are fully committed to creating even more opportunities to attract, develop and retain talent across the Council and we are proud to be leading the way.”

The Council also made the 2017 Large Apprenticeship Employer of the Year Award at the National Apprenticeship awards earlier this year and has been named a top 100 UK Employer for Apprentices for the third time.

Pictured left to right - Apprentice Hannah Searle, Apprentice Abbie Webb, Talent Adviser Ken Holder, Council Leader Ian Bowyer, Apprentice Luke Brindle, Chief Executive Tracey Lee, Apprentice Jake Holmes, Organisational Development and Talent Assistant Rachel Durand and Apprentice Kate Hanton.