Pimlico’s Passion for Apprenticeships

Here a Pimlico Plumbers we believe that apprenticeships are vital in tackling skills shortages and youth unemployment.

Apprenticeships offer young people a high-quality and respected hands on training route and many employers and young people can benefit from them.

Taking on apprentices improves productivity, strengthens workforces and improves motivation among our employees. Businesses are also able to harness and find fresh talent and it allows employers to train new people the way we want them to learn and work right from the very beginning.

Apprenticeships at Pimlico Plumbers

Pimlico offers four different types of Apprenticeships including:

• Plumbing
• Heating Engineering
• Electrical
• Carpentry
• Building
• Mechanics

Apprentices attend college one day per week in term time for three years. They then spend some of their time at Pimlico’s Training Workshop, run by our senior training manager, learning the basics of the business, before accompanying our qualified engineers out on real jobs.

Benefits:

• Apprentices are trained by highly experienced engineers that are experts in their field and gain a City and Guilds NVQ qualification levels 1, 2 and 3 when they have completed their apprenticeship.
• We pay good rates to our apprentices, well above the Government minimum of £95 a week. Our apprentices can earn more than double that amount.
• All college fees are paid for by the college that the apprentice attends. All on the job training is paid for by Pimlico.

Pimlico’s Apprenticeship Proposal Scheme

For years we have been trying to bring a more ‘old fashion’ apprenticeship back to the industry and we have discussed these plans with Mayor Boris Johnson and the Conservative party and they both completely agree with us.

Pimlico Plumbers has around 10 apprentices and we would take on another 20 if we received assistance.Pimlico has proposed an innovative scheme that would create apprenticeships and training but also support the business’s who take on apprentices. Under our plan the Government would pay employers the equivalent of Job Seekers Allowance to take on apprentices. The Government would pick up 100% of their wage bill for the first year, 50% in the second year and in the third year employers would be on their own.

SUPPORT OUR APPRENTICESHIP CAMPAIGN BY CLICKING HERE

Working with David Willetts

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, visited Pimlico to speak to Charlie Mullins, MD of Pimlico, about the need for further support for apprenticeships.

He was given a tour of the depot and even had some hands on experience from Pimlico’s Apprentices.

Click on the link to watch David Willetts Visits Pimlico

“These are the skills that really drive the trades that matter to people. You get a really worthwhile job that you can do for life and it earns good money. It’s a really useful alternative to the university route; so we back it,” says David Willetts.

Charlie Mullins is optimistic about the future of apprenticeships now that the Conservatives are in government.

“Our Apprenticeship Scheme is a very straight forward, practical system that would solve so many problems and after today’s visit from David Willetts I believe that we can work together on this,” says Charlie.