BAE Systems apprenticeships hailed in national competition

The Awards, now in their fifteenth year, are run by the National Apprenticeship Service and recognise businesses that grow their own talent through apprenticeships and individual apprentices who have made a significant contribution to their workplaces.

Steve Fogg, managing director of BAE Systems Shared Services said: “We are delighted to be awarded both the Macro Employer of the Year and the Recruitment Excellence awards at the 2018 National Apprenticeship Awards in recognition of our commitment to developing young talent.

“We have a long history of nurturing skills and our apprenticeships offer vocational experience as well as training up to degree and masters level.

“We are immensely proud to receive these awards and I congratulate all those involved in delivering our apprenticeships and ensuring our apprentices receive the very best in training, support and career opportunities.”

Lucas Benson, a craft apprentice at BAE Systems who was shortlisted for the Advanced Apprentice of the Year award, was Highly Commended for his work on complex engineering projects such as the F-35 and Hawk at the company’s air business at Warton.

The company invests approximately £90m a year in education, skills and early careers activities and has 2,000 apprentices in training across its UK businesses at any given time, with 95 per cent on average securing permanent roles each year.

Damian Hinds, Education Secretary, said: “Apprenticeships are an excellent way for anyone to gain new skills and forge a career in anything from aerospace engineering to nursing. I want to wish all the winners and nominees congratulations on their incredible efforts.”

In addition to this latest win, BAE Systems was recently named #1 employer of apprentices in the UK on review website Rate My Apprenticeship.