The Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre (AMTC) in Coventry has partnered with Lloyds Bank to offer companies financial support to recruit and train manufacturing apprentices.

The bank already supports apprenticeship training at the AMTC (www.the-amtc.co.uk), with £10 million funding over 10 years, but it is now partnering with the AMTC — located on the Manufacturing Technology Centre campus at Ansty Park — to release millions more in funding through the Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Scheme.

This will allow small- and medium-size businesses to take on apprentices, fully funded by the Apprenticeship Levy scheme and Lloyds Banking Group’s unspent levy, releasing valuable funds to encourage SMEs to take on more apprentices.

Paul Rowlett, AMTC managing director, said: “This will enable the AMTC to fully support SME employers with access to funding, enabling them to source and train new apprentices in their businesses.

"Access to Apprenticeship Levy Transfer funding has come at exactly the right time to help our small- and medium-size manufacturing businesses further develop their workforces to cope with the challenges ahead.

"The AMTC is already in dialogue with the SME employer base, and we are confident that we will see rising demand for new apprenticeship starts in the next few months.”

David Atkinson, UK head of manufacturing at Lloyds Bank, said: “Supporting the manufacturing sector through apprenticeships is vital to deliver much-needed skills and technologies of the future.

"That’s why we’re proud to give this extra support to the AMTC as part of our ambition to help Britain prosper, so that young people and the manufacturing industry can benefit from ‘state of the art’ training and expertise.”

The MTC was founded by the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University, the University of Nottingham and TWI Ltd.

Its industrial members include some of the UK’s major global manufacturers. It is also part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK.