Morris & Spottiswood has announced that they have been awarded Platinum accredited membership via The 5% Club’s 2023-24 Employer Audit Scheme.

This award recognises their significant contribution to the continued development of all their Employees through “earn & learn” schemes such as Apprenticeships, Graduate Schemes and Sponsored Students Course Placements.

Launched to mark The 5% Club’s 10th Anniversary this year, The Club introduced the new “top” tier of Platinum Membership that can be achieved through the Employer Audit Scheme.

Platinum members are participants who have achieved Gold Membership in three consecutive years, and who in their third year have 10% or more staff members “earning and learning”.

From an impressive list of 180 audit participants, they were one of only 30 Employers who met the Platinum Standard, meaning Morris & Spottiswood is in the top 3% of members of The 5% Club achieving this prestigious top level.

The 5% Club is a dynamic movement of Employers all of whom are inspired to take positive action for increased, inclusive, and accessible workplace training for all. With a membership which now exceeds 900 companies, The 5% Club represents over 1.6 Million Employees, 101,000 of whom are in “earn and learn” schemes.

The Employer Audit is a unique scheme which validates the employers’ activities, explores their future plans and commitments, as well as examining their approaches to quality, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.

Susan Hughes (pictured above), HR Director at Morris & Spottiswood said, “We are proud of our investment in our staff members and are delighted to have met The 5% Club’s gold standard for the third consecutive year leading to our Platinum accreditation.

The award reinforces our commitment to attracting and nurturing the best talent through our apprenticeship, trainee and graduate development programmes.

We understand that our team is the backbone of this business and in order to achieve our ambitious 10-year growth plan we recognise the importance of investing heavily from top to bottom to have the necessary skill and competence.”

Mark Cameron OBE, Chief Executive at The 5% Club said, “Our Employer Audit scheme recognises the efforts of all those Employers who invest in their workforce through a broad range of workplace learning schemes.

It is fantastic that in these challenging times so many are able to commit to the Employer Audit and to gain the credit for their efforts, and that the majority are striving to expand their schemes over the coming years.

Their efforts and achievements are to be applauded. Even more impressive is the 3 percent who have achieved Platinum level membership – they represent the very best of our movement and of employers offering ‘earn and learn’ opportunities.”

Gill Cronin, Director of Operations at The 5% Club added: “Having seen The Club grow to more than 900 members, I am always impressed at the commitment, drive and energy our members channel into offering “earn and learn” skills opportunities.

To now see 20% of these members gain Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum accredited membership of The Club is inspiring and demonstrates how these companies are all contributing to the future of skills in our economy.”