Employer of the Year Award
(250+ employees)

One of the largest Apprenticeship providers in the UK, British Gas has trained over 2000 apprentices in the past five years.

British Gas currently employs 650 apprentices and says they are at “the very heart” of its business growth plans. The company, which offers Apprenticeships in electrical servicing as well as gas installation and maintenance, is a firm believer in training the next generation of gas engineers and helping young people develop rewarding careers along the way.

“We fully recognise the business benefits of growing our own engineers - they live the culture and our customer service principles are embedded from the very outset,” says National Training Manager Willie Nicoll.

British Gas is not just a gas service provider; additionally it provides both plumbing and electrical white goods services to over two million customers. This customer demand has resulted in the British Gas Engineering Academy extending its training provision beyond gas to provide both plumbing and electrical white goods Apprenticeships. The academy was  awarded a Grade 1 status in its latest Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) inspection. It was awarded Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) status by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in the field of gas engineering and has recently received Beacon Status from the Department for Education and Skills.

British Gas' staff retention rates are absolutely first class, with over 95% of the company's apprentices successfully completing the course year on year. British Gas has identified real cost benefits to recruiting and training its own staff, with the company's analysis showing apprentices to be 25% more productive than staff trained elsewhere. Advanced apprentices at British Gas also display six times fewer QA defects in their work and qualify on average three months earlier than non-British Gas trained apprentices, resulting in large financial savings. Consequently, the company is determined to strengthen its Apprenticeship programme even further.