Comment on UK Spring Budget ‘Returnerships’
John McPherson, UK Managing Director of Business & Industry at global facility services provider ABM, comments on the announcement of 'returnership' apprenticeships targeting the over 50s in Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt's Spring Budget.
The facilities management industry has been facing a skills gap for many years.
At the heart of that challenge is the misperception that apprenticeships are about oily rags and no prospects - which couldn't be further from the truth.
We welcome the government's announcement on encouraging over 50s to take up “returnerships”. This demographic offers an enormous amount of experience.
We have been engaging with this group in our recruitment efforts for some time and seen fantastic results, Working with clients such as Heathrow Airport, the Bullring and TfL, as well as some of the country's biggest airlines...returning to work for the over 50s can be an exciting prospect.
Investing in our talent pipeline is something which ABM has focussed on for many years with the creation of our own schools education programme (Junior Engineering Engagement Programme), which has been applauded by the industry.
Likewise, we will be embracing returnerships as we believe, alongside young people coming into the workforce, those coming back play a vital role in our mission to fill the skills gap in our industry.
