National contractor Kier has strengthened its position as a leading firm in Liverpool with its Apprenticeship Levy.

The company has become the first contractor to transfer funds from its Apprenticeship Levy to its supply chain in Liverpool.

The funds have been transferred to Fieldway, an established electrical contractor based in Liverpool, to upskill two of its current employees to management level through apprenticeships.

Peter Commins, managing director at Kier Regional Building North West, said: "We're thrilled to have been the first contractor in Liverpool to able to transfer some of our apprenticeship levy. Fieldway is a valued supply chain partner of ours and we have worked with them on a number of projects, most recently at the enabling works for Shakespeare North.

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"Having the ability to support not only the upskilling and training of our employees, but of our supply chain employees is something I'm really proud of and I look forward to continuing to support both local apprentices in our region and the construction industry generally through the use of unspent levy."

Fieldway Managing Director Tony Carden welcomed the support.

He said: "Identifying managers is important but SMEs don't always have the funds to support them and that's where the levy transfer comes in. We look at our staff development from the point of view of getting our new staff qualified in their specialist areas so they can work on site. What Kier and Sysco have done is enable us to take our training opportunities to the next level and we now have clear progression routes to management for established staff in our organisation."

(CM/MH)