Five young care leavers have secured full-time employment as apprentice process operators after successfully gaining Food & Drink Career Passports as part of a ground-breaking link-up between Wigan Council, Wigan and Leigh College, and Kraft Heinz’s Kitt Green plant – one of the largest food processing plants in Europe.
The five studied for the new National Skills Academy for Food & Drink Food and Drink Careers Passport as part of 14-week paid work experience traineeships offered by Kraft Heinz in partnership with the council and college to support their transition from local authority care.
“The Careers Passport takes in basic food handling, food safety, allergen awareness, and workplace health and safety so it’s a good all-round foundational training for anyone wanting to work in the food and beverage industry to have. They’ve got the basics to be able to find a job with any food-orientated manufacturer and the more companies that use it and recognise it, the more important it will become to our sector.” said Kraft Heinz Training & Development Manager, Marianne Thomson.
Kitt Green employees chose to support local care leavers between 18 and 24 as the first beneficiaries of the traineeships as part of the plant’s efforts to boost life chances in surrounding communities. Each trainee was assigned a volunteer staff mentor who themselves received training on how best to help the youngsters navigate the programme.
Kraft Heinz now hopes to repeat the scheme next year for other local people facing similar employment challenges.
“It’s been a huge adjustment for them coming into a working environment and for us to understand the complexities of such a commitment. But there was so much enthusiasm from our Kraft Heinz colleagues and the trainees to make it all work. it’s more than work, it’s a change of lifestyle for these youngsters.” added Marianne.
Following Passport completion and successful interviews, the five care leavers are now embarking on 18-month apprenticeships.
“Where their careers go after that is down to their ambition and drive,” said Marianne. “Once they have gained their L2 Food and Beverage Operator Apprenticeship, it opens up a wide range of opportunities. We have Level 3 Technical Operator and Level 3 Engineering programmes up and running that they could develop into. Then as a global company, if you are bright and looking to the long-term, there’s nothing to stop you from travelling the world to work at one of our other production centres.”
Commenting on the success of the Kraft Heinz initiative, Louise Cairns, Chief Executive of the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink, said:
“We are delighted that the Food & Drink Careers Passport is playing such an increasingly recognised role in helping new talent enter food and drink manufacturing which employs almost 500,000 people and is now the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector offering a vast range of exciting career paths to communities across the country.
“As an integral part of the traineeships offered by Kraft Heinz, the Passport more than proved its worth as a recognised pre-employment tool that boosts employability and job chances because holders have the essential accreditation employers want in core food handling and safety.”
* For more background on the NSAFD Food & Drink Careers Passport visit https://fdcp.co.uk