Wetherspoons donates over £200,000 to fund frontline healthcare apprenticeships

Pub chain Wetherspoons has invested in the health and care sector through a significant donation to pioneering home healthcare provider Cera, as part of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Cera has been awarded an impressive £200,000+ to spend by April 2023 on frontline apprenticeships by Wetherspoons. The funds were guaranteed to Cera in December 2022 and will cover the recruitment, training, and deploying of 68 Adult Care Apprentices, to achieve between a Level 2 (Adult Care Worker) and Level 5 (Leader in Adult Care) Diploma in Care.

Each level, funded by Wetherspoons’ donation, will include the apprenticeship standards plus an industry-recognised qualification, tailored to suit the needs of the individual, depending on their area of specialisation - for example, care for the elderly, dementia-specific, learning disabilities, or mental health. All apprentices receive excellent teaching and will be assessed by a qualified assessor, leading to a Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) accreditation and ultimately training them to deliver safe, empathetic, and effective care.

To date, over £100,000 of Wetherspoons’ donation has already been allocated.

Cera delivers services on behalf of over a hundred Local Governments and 75% of NHS Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), with the scale to make a real impact in reducing pressures across the health service - equivalent in capacity to 50 NHS hospitals.

This is the first time that Wetherspoons has donated to Cera, with the potential for further investment in the future to fund more apprenticeships in care.

In choosing Cera to receive their Apprenticeship Levy, Wetherspoons is recognising that care is a highly-skilled sector that requires the appropriate funding to train staff and provide excellent career development opportunities.

Annabel Nash, Chief People Officer at Cera, comments: “All of us at Cera are delighted to receive such significant investment from Wetherspoons as part of the Apprenticeship Levy. Being selected as the recipient for this generous donation is testament to Wetherspoons’ understanding of just how important funding is for the health and care sector. This sizeable donation will go a long way in growing the talent pool and attracting new recruits to a rewarding, lifelong career in care.”