Grant Thornton extends partnership with Activate to 2027

Grant Thornton UK and management training provider Activate Business School have agreed an extension to their contract to deliver leadership and management apprenticeships until 2027.

Available to all organisations in England, the programmes help employers to develop their employees’ skills to become successful managers and future leaders.

According to the firm, over 1,000 learners from across 70 different organisations have enrolled on the programmes since the launch in 2018.

Grant Thornton said the programme provides the “skills, tools and techniques” required for people to develop their capability as team leaders and operational managers.

The programme is also designed to “equip” future and current team leaders with the necessary management skills to both progress their own career and lead effective, productive teams.

For employers, the firm said costs of the programme are accessible. Larger employers can utilise their Apprenticeship Levy to fully fund development whilst smaller employers can access a 95% funding contribution towards the cost from the government.

Justin Rix, partner, Grant Thornton, said: “Recent findings from our Business Outlook Tracker showed that employers are not only using apprenticeships more than they were in 2018 when we launched this partnership, but they are also planning to increase their uptake of apprenticeships in 2022.

“Research shows that the hardest jobs to fill are management roles. One of the core purposes of the Apprenticeship Levy is to encourage increased availability and uptake of quality training to address this gap, which is a threat to the future growth of the UK’s economy and a contributing factor to our existing productivity gap.”

He added: “Our partnership with Activate Business School provides an opportunity for employers to offer their people first-class leadership and management training in line with the needs of their business, whilst also benefiting from the Apprenticeship Levy funding.”