Severn Trent, which supplies water and waste water services to more than four million homes and businesses across the Midlands and mid-Wales, has won a top title as part of the National Apprenticeship Awards.

The company, which is based in Coventry, was named as Macro Employer of the Year for the West Midlands, beating off competition from Interserve and Warwickshire County Council.

Amy Barber, who is responsible for the apprentice programme at Severn Trent, said: “We’re absolutely committed to our apprenticeship programme, offering three times as many roles this year as last, which reflects not only the exciting challenges we have within the water industry but also the fact that we see apprentices as integral to the way we do business. That’s further reflected in the fact that, for the first time this year, we’ve had apprentices joining us at degree level, as well as at advance and higher level.

“From our point of view, we need engineers and, if we commit to training them ourselves, then we know they have the right skills to, in the short-term, help us to offer our customers the best possible service and, longer term, to become our future leaders.

“Our new joiners will have visibility across the whole business, right from the start. They’ll be working across our region with experts, other apprentices and graduates, adapting quickly to the pace and scale of what we do so they’ll have the chance to make an impact right at the start of their career.

“It’s an exciting time to be in the industry and to be at Severn Trent, and, by investing in our apprentices, we’re able to share that excitement with a whole new generation.”

Severn Trent will now go forward to national judging, with three companies then being selected as national finalists.

Severn Trent recently took on board 80 new apprentices, almost three times as many as joined the FTSE 100 utility last year.

As part of the new apprentice scheme, the company offers Advanced and Higher apprenticeships, as well an industry-leading Digital/IS Degree Apprenticeship.

The four main role disciplines are:

Utilities Engineering Technician;

Utilities Operation Technician;

Asset Creation (Engineering) scheme; and

Digital/Information Systems scheme.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the scheme, or in applying for entry next year, should go to severntrentapprentices.com.