AWARD winning central heating giant Worcester Bosch Group has been recognised for its commitment to staff training and apprenticeships. The boiler company from Cotswold Way has been presented with a Champions for Apprentices’ training award at Birmingham Metropolitan College's Employer STAR Awards. The event at the college campus in Birmingham city centre recognised a range of businesses for their commitment to developing staff and celebrating the contribution they make to training their employees.

Allan Ovington, regional service manager, Worcester Bosch Group, said: “We have chosen Birmingham Metropolitan College to be the national provider of apprenticeship training for our gas service engineers and we’re impressed with the high standards of teaching and learning as well as the knowledge and experience of staff. It was wonderful to be recognised, as an organisation, at this awards ceremony because the importance of work-based training to the local economy and national skills agenda is vital in the current climate.”

Corrie Harris, executive director for employer services at Birmingham Metropolitan College, added: “Our annual Employer STAR Awards celebrate the contribution and commitment employers have made during the year to the training of their workforces as well as recognising the success of their staff in gaining skills and qualifications. Effective professional development training has a fantastic impact on businesses as well as making an overall contribution to boosting skills in the local economy.”

Worcester Bosch Group is the UK market leader in domestic heating and hot water systems. Employing more than 1,600 people at its headquarters and manufacturing plants in Worcester and Clay Cross, Derbyshire, it has a network of more than 300 qualified gas service engineers and 80 technically trained field sales managers.

An apprenticeship programme has been running at the company for ten years with outstanding support and commitment at all levels to recruit and train exceptional customer focused engineers. Of those recruited and trained under the scheme, more than 80 per cent are still employed by the company today.