Mayor celebrates National Apprenticeship Week

To mark National Apprenticeship week, Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin visited Leeds based firm, Pragmatic Digital, who received a share of the Combined Authority’s £3.7 million apprenticeship fund.

Web development and digital company Pragmatic Digital recently hired two apprentices in software development roles thanks to the Mayor’s specialist apprenticeship service.

The Combined Authority received over £3.7million to support businesses and their future workforce through apprenticeships. The scheme engages with larger businesses to encourage them to pledge a proportion of their unspent apprenticeship levy through the service. Pledged levy is then transferred to non-levy paying businesses taking on apprentices to cover 100% of the training costs.

The Combined Authority supported the transfer of funding from Amazon and Cognizant to Pragmatic Digital.

So far, the Mayor’s apprenticeship service has supported 440 apprentices in 112 businesses across West Yorkshire and York. Pledging companies include Amazon, ASDA, Santander, Cognizant and Yorkshire Building Society.