Building an apprenticeship scheme that meets individual and organisational needs whilst fully utilising the Apprentice Levy is no easy task. I know that we are not alone in trying to do this but we are quite pleased with how it is going and wanted to share some of what we have learned so far.The PieceThe dictionary definition of success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. At Travis Perkins plc, we have some fairly significant aims one of which is to help build the next-generation workforce for the construction sector and a very defined purpose to help build better communities and enrich lives.Our apprenticeship programme sits at the heart of what we are trying to achieve and we are really proud of what we have built over the last few years. Since the levy’s introduction, we have had 1,500 apprentice graduates and plan to increase that number to over 10,000 by the end of 2030. I wouldn’t say it has been the easiest of journeys but there have been some great learnings along the way.I could share the entire journey, starting from the moment we realised we had to allocate 0.5% of our payroll to the Chancellor, but I am sure you would get bored. So I thought it might be more helpful to concentrate on three of the crucial lessons we have learned.Lesson one – Forget it’s an apprenticeshipThe first is to forget that you are developing an apprenticeship. Now that may seem a bit odd, but at the beginning back in 2017 we got quite confused trying to work out how to get a training provider to understand our needs. How to find the right apprenticeship standard, and how the standard fits the needs of our business. There were a lot of square peg and round hole discussions.It took us a couple of years to realise we were unnecessarily complicating things. So we took things back to basics and asked ourselves, “What essential knowledge does a colleague in the business need to do their job?”. The theory was that if we trained them on what we needed then we would be training them on what our industry needed.When we knew what we needed, we then sought an apprenticeship standard that aligned with our requirements and an apprenticeship Provider who could deliver that standard the way we wanted.Now that wasn’t a simple task and we realised that we weren’t always going to find appropriate providers. The answer was simple and we set ourselves up as an Employer Provider to fill our needs where we could not find an appropriate Training provider.Today we have an apprenticeship for nearly every job role we have in our business. We have a mixture of programmes ones that we deliver ourselves and ones that are delivered by our external partnersLesson two – Know what your business needs and work for it.Now, while this approach worked well where we had the appropriate standard in place, there were instances where the standard required correction or no standard actually existed. Undeterred, we engaged with trailblazers, confident in our understanding of our colleagues’ needs and by participating in discussions, we shaped standards to address those needs. We now contribute to meaningful standards, ensuring our training remains pertinent. Although the ongoing challenge is to maintain relevance, most standards permit development, and our active involvement in trailblazer reviews persists.This involvement in Trailblazer is critical for any business that wants an effective apprenticeship programme.Lesson three – Make the training relevant, and keep it relevant.We were really proud that we had developed the relevant training for our colleagues, the next challenge was getting engagement from across the business. This was not easy as we have hundreds of managers and leaders, each with varying perspectives on apprenticeships which were not always positive. The word ‘apprenticeship’ was a problem, especially within the construction sector with a memory of youngsters straight out of education on their first job. We needed to engage these leaders in utilising this t...