HRH The Princess Royal, president of the City and Guilds Institute of London, is awarding nine employers in the South East for their outstanding training and skills development programmes.
Now in its eighth year, The Princess Royal Training Awards continues to recognise organisations in the South East of England truly demonstrating exceptional commitment to learning and development.
With skills shortages across the UK increasing and job vacancies doubling, engaging learning programmes to grow and retain new and existing talent has never been more crucial.
From small not-for-profit organisations to large multinational employers, the 53 recipients of this year’s awards – nine of which are based in the South East – continue to be refreshingly diverse and increasingly innovative in their approach to learning and development.
Some strong themes have emerged from the programmes being awarded this year, including enhanced diversity, equity and inclusion schemes, strong management and leadership training schemes, novel ways of addressing sustainability and reducing carbon footprint, and improved access to schemes designed to open up new talent pipelines and career pathways.
Umbrella Training, based in Chatham, Kent, receives an award for its commitment to delivering outstanding apprenticeship training. The training provider, which manages apprenticeship training for the hospitality sector, has evolved with a new leadership structure and enhanced working relationships with its employers.
Umbrella Training has continued to adapt its course content. 78% of its apprentices achieved a distinction and it has a 100% apprentice pass rate at end point assessment stage.
Kirstie Donnelly MBE, chief executive of City & Guilds, said: “The Princess Royal Training Awards demonstrates how training and development can create opportunities and attract new talent to industries in the South East of England with significant skills gaps and labour shortages.
“It is encouraging to see nine employers in the South East recognised and to see such a diverse range of employers continuing to apply for a Princess Royal Training Award.
“Despite the obvious challenges in recent years, these employers have shown unwavering dedication to nurturing their workforce through outstanding training and skills development, resulting in a lasting positive impact.
“As skills shortages and job vacancies rise, investing in training and development can help to increase productivity and harness and retain talent for future growth.
“Not only is this good for business and the workforce – it is also beneficial for wider society and contributes to thriving local economies.
“These organisations exemplify the transformative power of investing in people, and we are honoured to celebrate their accomplishments.”
Click here to see the list of recipients and a brief synopsis of the training programmes.
