Shepley Group has been awarded Gold Accredited Membership by The 5% Club’s 2023-24 Employer Audit Scheme.

Seen as a testament to their commitment to employee development, this citation acknowledges the company's contribution to its 'earn and learn' schemes such as apprenticeships, graduate schemes, and sponsored students course placements.

Out of 180 members, Shepley Group was among the 120 to meet the Gold Standard.

The 5% Club is an active movement of employers taking strides towards enhanced, inclusive, and accessible workplace training.

Its membership, exceeding 900 companies, represents over 1.6 million employees, 101,000 of whom are in 'earn and learn' schemes.

The Employer Audit recognises employers' activities, evaluates their future plans, and looks at their approach to quality, social mobility, diversity, and inclusion.

The Shepley Group is passionate about the development of its employees, acknowledging them as their biggest asset.

They have a robust apprenticeship scheme and currently have 65 apprentices under their wing.

The company has also recently launched an Improvership scheme which pairs employees unqualified in a specific trade with a supervisor, providing them with crucial skills before placing them in a specific training programme.

The company has been setting records with their apprenticeship intake.

They hired 21 apprentices in 2022, over 50 per cent of whom were females.

In 2023, they hired 23 apprentices across five trades, the highest yearly intake to date.

With apprenticeships, graduates, trainees, and improverships included, over 16 per cent of their employees are in 'earn and learn' positions.

Mark Cameron OBE, Chief Executive of The 5% Club, said: “Our Employer Audit scheme recognises the efforts of all those Employers who invest in their workforce through a broad range of workplace learning schemes.

"It is fantastic that in these challenging times so many are able to commit to the Employer Audit and to gain the credit for their efforts, and that the majority are striving to expand their schemes over the coming years. Their efforts and achievements are to be applauded.”

Gill Cronin, Director of Operations at The 5% Club, expressed admiration of the members' commitment to offering 'earn and learn' skills opportunities.

She said: “Having seen The Club grow to more than 900 members, I am always impressed at the commitment, drive and energy our members channel into offering 'earn and learn' skills opportunities.

"To now see 20 per cent of these members gain Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum accredited membership of The Club is inspiring and demonstrates how these companies are all contributing to the future of skills in our economy.”