Apprenticeship standard helps ‘secure the future’ of the UK leather industry
19/12/2018
A number of companies from the UK leather industry have been working for the past two years to create a new apprenticeship standard for the sector. Collaborators have included leathergoods brand Mulberry, leather manufacturing group Pittards and the Clayton Leather Group.
The Institute for Apprenticeships has said the standard is designed to give “an overarching range of skills, knowledge and behaviours appropriate to both the production of leather and the manufacture of leathergoods”. The aim is for the apprentices to know and understand the process of how leather is produced and the manufacturing steps required to produce a final leathergoods product.
In its statement announcing the approval of the standard, UKLF quoted Rob Billington, supply chain director for Mulberry, who said: “With the confirmation of the funding band at £5,000 and with the final changes agreed, you can now go ahead and recruit and engage apprentices in the training as laid out in the Leather Craftsperson Standard.”
Among the people he thanked for helping make the standard possible were UKLF director Kerry Senior and John West, skills and training manager at the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT).
UKLF will be in charge of the end-point assessment (EPA) of apprentices taking part in the standard.
Concluding his statement to the partners involved, Mr Billington said: “As employers within the group, the batten now passes to you. Thank you all for your support and patience throughout the process. We have created something that can strengthen the leather industry within the UK, but only if you get out there and recruit the young people whose new-found skills we will need to secure the future of our industry”.
Further details about the Leather Craftsperson Apprenticeship Standard can be found here.
Image credit: UKLF.
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