Aldi in £1m apprentice boost for SMEs

Aldi has announced plans to donate £1 million to small and medium-sized businesses in 2023 to help fund local apprenticeship schemes.

The discounter pointed out that it has already donated over £1.7m of levy funding to date, including to fresh produce leadership training scheme Management Development Services (MDS).

MDS will receive a portion of the latest £1m investment, alongside training organisation Total People and Aldi’s principal apprenticeship provider, Lifetime. All donated funds will be used to support apprenticeship schemes run by small to medium-sized businesses across the country, in sectors such as early years education, operations management, hospitality and health and social care.

The move follows last week’s announcement that Aldi is looking to recruit more than 500 apprentices across the UK this year.

Lisa Murphy, learning and development director at Aldi UK, said: “Apprenticeships play a crucial part not only in our sector, but in helping people across the UK, at all levels, reach their full potential.

“Last year, we recruited over 150 of our own apprentices across our Store, Logistics and National Buying teams, and enrolled over 50 existing colleagues onto apprenticeship programmes to help them gain industry-recognised qualifications and develop their skills through practical hands-on experience.

”We’re really excited to see how our £1m investment will be used by businesses in the communities we serve to help people gain employment and develop new skills.”