Trade kitchen supplier Howdens held a graduation ceremony to honour 215 apprentices who completed their apprenticeship in 2022 – a record for the business – at the NCC in Birmingham.

Pictured left to right: Regional director Wales & West Tim Mason, CEO Andrew Livingston, depot manager Vicky Cuff, Trade counter sales person Caitlan Saunders, assistant depot manager James Salt, appliance aftersales manager Emma Cade and operations director Julian Lee

The apprenticeship programme covers roles across its business including within its 800-strong depots, logistics, manufacturing, engineering and IT.

Howdens achieved 34^th place in the Top 100 Apprentice Employers table 2023.

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Graduates from across Scotland, England and Wales celebrated with their friends and family, with the ceremony hosted by two former apprentices, and talks from Howdens’ CEO Andrew Livingston, regional director Wales and West Tim Mason and operations director Julian Lee.

Since 2009, Howdens has employed over 4,300 apprentices and currently one in 12 Howdens’ employees started out as an apprentice.

In addition, almost 80% of graduates, who completed the apprenticeship programme last year, remain in the business in a permanent role.

Early careers manager at Howdens  Emma Leech said: “We are delighted to have been able to honour our apprentices at the graduation ceremony.

“At Howdens we are very proud of the graduates and our apprenticeship programme. We know it is the ideal way to develop people and to prepare them for a happy, productive, and rewarding career.

 “We find new staff who understand our special way of working and contribute to the continued growth of our business.

“Our commitment is to ensure our apprentices feel valued, secure, and in a position to make a long term career at Howdens.

“From the first day’s training, right through to the integration into the workplace, our apprentices receive a warm welcome from our teams who have a genuine passion for their role and the business.”

Howdens has opened up over 100 apprenticeship vacancies in its depots across the UK to be filled across the summer.