British Gas has unveiled plans to treble the number of apprentice engineers over the next 18 months, creating 1,000 new jobs.
The company said it planned to invest £40m in recruitment and training across its network of five engineering academy training centres based across the UK. The move will help to plug the industry-wide skills gap of domestic gas engineers, estimated to stand at a shortfall of 20,000 workers.
Chris Weston, managing director of British Gas Services, said: “Our apprenticeship scheme is helping to drive the business forward. It’s an important route to attracting motivated and enthusiastic recruits and providing an enviably high standard of quality training. Research has shown our apprentices to be 25% more efficient and customer-focused than employees trained elsewhere.”
The company has also recently increased the length of the training scheme has recently increased from 12 to 18 months to maximise the learning opportunity for new apprentices.
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British Gas currently receives 50 applications for each position on its scheme through its website www.britishgasacademy.co.uk
The company is also working to increase the number of women engineers it employs and over the last two years has trebled the number of female recruits from 4% to 13%.
