Biggest ever apprentice intake joins the council workforce

New cohort of apprentices joining Rochdale Borough Council

26 new apprentices have recently taken up roles across the council and schools in a wide variety of departments - the largest intake of Rochdale Borough Council apprentices taken on at one time.

Of these new recruits, 13 will be taking up roles in schools across the borough in either teaching assistant or business administration roles. The others will be working in the council across teams in children’s services, environmental management, townships, human resources, chief executive’s office, data, legal governance and business support.

Councillor Kieran Heakin, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We’re really proud of our apprenticeship work, but we couldn’t achieve it without the hard work of the apprentices’. The start of a new cohort is always really exciting, we hope they are inspired by the success stories across our apprenticeship programme and they grab all the wonderful opportunities these jobs roles offer.”

Of this new cohort, 73 per cent are from the borough, with the remainder being from neighbouring towns.

New apprentice Anna Bailey, who is joining the council’s adult care team as a business support apprentice, said: “The reason I chose to do an apprenticeship is because it opens doors for more opportunities. I’ve recently moved back to the borough from Ireland as this will allow me to gain more experience and offers me more opportunity to progress with my future career plans here at Rochdale Borough Council.”

These new apprentices are joining a very successful and highly acclaimed apprenticeship programme that the council runs. In 2018 alone the apprenticeship team achieved the following:

• Started 135 apprenticeship programmes, across the council and schools, of which 55 were brand new posts
• Won the ‘Macro Employer of the Year’ and ‘Recruitment Excellence’ awards at the 2018 North West Apprenticeship Awards, and were national finalist in both categories
• Were invited to the House of Commons to be praised for being a driving force delivering high quality apprenticeships
• Had the highest ever recorded figures for young people entering apprenticeships straight after school
• Won the Innovation Award at the council’s ACE Awards
• Shortlisted for an LGC Award 2019 in the innovation category

Recruitment to the council’s apprenticeships programme for the January 2020 cohort with start from 30 September 2019 and recruitment drop in information events will be held at Number One Riverside on Monday 30 September 4pm – 6pm and Saturday 5 October 10am – 1pm

For more information on apprenticeships in the council, please visit: rochdaleapprenticeships.org/