Congratulations to Howdens, who were named winners of the Innovation Award at the UK Social Mobility Awards 2022 ceremony on Thursday 13 October at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
The SOMO awards, which began in 2017, were specifically established to recognise and encourage action to promote and increase social mobility within Britain’s companies and institutions.
Howdens’ submission centred on their support for EN:Able Futures through their transfer of their excess Apprenticeship Levy funds, which has directly enabled apprentices to pursue their dream careers in construction, housing and civil engineering roles in Northern England.
To date Howdens’ Levy transfer has enabled 31 EN:Able Futures apprentices to become design technicians, site supervisors, groundworkers, joiners, bricklayers, gas engineers and civil engineering technicians, thereby not only supporting their social mobility but also plugging skills gaps across the industry.
Following the success of the pilot scheme with EN:Able Futures, Howdens have extended their support to Flexi-job Apprenticeship agencies in other geographical regions.
Jo Blackham, Learning and Development Manager at Howdens said: “We are so pleased that our levy is going to support skills development in the Construction Trades, giving people the opportunities to succeed through an apprenticeship and the pastoral support that The Apprentice Managers provide is second to none."
Julie Deeley, EN:Able Futures Director of Operations said: “It’s great to have Howdens’ support. Transferring their excess apprenticeship levy is making a huge difference, enabling us to nurture the talent of many more apprentices in Northern England wishing to pursue construction careers. We’re delighted to be working together to help build the industry’s future workforce.”