NI Water has been recognised for its excellence use of apprenticeships at the recent CIPD Northern Ireland HR Awards.

The utility was presented with the Best Apprenticeship Scheme Award at a ceremony at the Titanic, Belfast, which celebrated the very best of people management and development in Northern Ireland. 

The judges commended NI Water for its strategic use of apprenticeships, the passion and commitment displayed for the programme, the partnerships created across NI and the development of a future Scientific Academy in the highly important world of STEM. They said that NI Water's use of its apprenticeship strategy to drive diversity and inclusion was particularly noteworthy, as was the use of apprenticeships to sustain the business. 

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Paula Graham, Head of Culture, Engagement & Learning said: "It is a tremendous achievement for NI Water to win the Best Apprenticeship Award against exceptional competition in this category. Over the last two years, our Apprentice Academy has gone from strength-to-strength, growing and diversifying into new business areas to support NI Water's strategic ambitions and adapting to evolving business needs.

"Our Academy has provided important employment opportunities for 80 people with ambitious future growth plans and has also supported NI Water's diversity, inclusion and levelling-up ambitions. Our Apprenticeship Strategy is a huge cross functional team effort, so this award belongs to the many hard-working people across our business who make this Academy a success."