This week sees Barclays bank take on its 1000th apprentice since the launch of its apprenticeship programme in 2012. This follows its plans to take on 2,000 apprentices by 2015. 86% of Barclays apprentices were NEET when they started work, and 38% struggled academically.
Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, said: “Doubling our apprenticeship recruitment target to 2,000 is a direct reflection of how productive and valued these members of staff are. Their success and contribution to our business has encouraged us to open up new career paths through apprenticeships, so that those eager to contribute to our team have the opportunity to fulfil their full potential in more areas of our business.
“School results aren’t always the best reflection of a young person’s potential to excel in the workplace, so we mustn’t be afraid to invest in NEETs. By reaching out to the next generation we hope more young people will begin to realise what a great way this is to start their careers and how much businesses value apprentices.”
