YORKSHIRE Water has today launched its biggest ever apprentice recruitment programme in a bid to ensure it has the skills in place to provide services for millions of customers.

The Bradford-based utility company will create 160 apprenticeships over the next five years, mainly in operational roles.

The main focus will be on skilled roles to prepare for the retirement of existing employees to ensure Yorkshire Water retains technical capability among its future workforce and help overcome a skills gap being predicted in the utility sector by 2025 partly due to an ageing workforce.

Yorkshire Water has unveiled its plans at a time when nearly one in five (18.3 per cent) 18-24 year olds across Yorkshire are not in education, employment or training.

The formal launch of the scheme was held at the Esholt waste water treatment works, near Bradford. Recruitment of apprentices will start in May.

Richard Flint, Yorkshire Water chief executive, said: “Many people may not be aware just what a diverse range of skills we have within the company.

“In fact, we have some of the most skilled colleagues that you’ll find in any industry and it’s so important to us as a business that we look to preserve this specialist knowledge for the future.

“That’s why we are delighted to announce these 160 apprenticeships, it’s great news for young people and for the Yorkshire economy. Ours is a company that invests in its people and, having joined as a graduate myself, I know there are endless opportunities to progress and develop here.”

The latest recruitment drive comes on the back of 59 apprentices being taken on over the past five years.

Jess Rickett, from Bradford, joined Yorkshire Water’s four-year multi-skilled apprenticeship scheme as a 16-year-old straight from school in 2012, and is learning a range of electrical and mechanical skills, giving her the option to specialise in one particular area as she progresses.

Her work involves routine maintenance and responding to emergencies.

Jess, 18, said: “I wanted to join this scheme because it’s given me the chance to do something a bit different.

“I’m learning valuable skills every day and getting the chance to put them into practice. It really feels like I’m doing something which is important for Yorkshire Water.”

George Cowell joined the company’s two-year network performance engineer programme in 2011, gaining an NVQ Level 3 in waste water engineering, and is now a qualified network performance engineer.

Details of the apprenticeship programme can be found at yorkshirewater.com/careers/apprenticeships.aspx.