United Utilities has accepted 30 apprentices and 18 graduates from across the northwest of England, bringing its number of apprentices and graduates to more than 200.
The company received more than 3,000 applications for places on its training schemes that last between three and four years.
Apprentice and graduate delivery manager Jacqui Kawczak said the apprenticeship and graduate programmes had earned multiple accolades in the industry.
“They couldn’t be in better hands. As well as having our own purpose-built technical training centres in Bolton and Carlisle, United Utilities lead the way in delivering industry standards for the water sector.”
The sector is facing a skills shortage as one-fifth of the workforce is set to retire in the coming decade and there has been a call across the utilities sectors to recruit and retain staff.
The government introduced an Apprenticeship Levy to help employees address skills shortages and plug the gap through work-based learning.
Under the levy, large employers – those with a pay bill of more than £3 million – pay 0.5 per cent of their total wage bill to invest in training staff.
Smaller employers do not pay the levy, and the government pays for 90 per cent of the costs of their apprenticeship training and assessment and the employer pays 10 per cent of the cost.