Liberty Steel Group is investing in the young engineers of the future, with the announcement that its Speciality Steels business in South Yorkshire is planning to take on a new group of apprentices for the upcoming academic year.
The company is offering 20 Level 3 and degree apprenticeships in a variety of engineering specialisms, covering electrical, mechanical and materials business.

Another 10 apprentices will be hired by the group’s other UK businesses. Its apprenticeship programme, which operates at sites in Stocksbridge and Rotherham, is renowned in the region and was selected as a Centrica Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer in 2018.

Apprentices joining Speciality Steels will have the opportunity to learn and work in a business that produces high grades of steel for demanding applications in industries such as aerospace, oil and gas, automotive and motor-sport. They will also have the chance to shape the group’s transition to carbon-neutral status by 2030, as it aims to be the first large-scale steel producer in the world to achieve this ambitious goal.

The Speciality Steels business in Rotherham is already ‘ahead of the curve’ on reducing emissions; it uses an electric-arc furnace to melt scrap steel and produce new steel products, bypassing the carbon emissions from blast furnace steel production. Apprenticeships enable students to study locally, while earning a salary and gaining experience from hands-on and practical engineering tasks.

Mick Hood, Liberty Steel Group’s UK HR director, said: “As someone who joined Speciality Steels as an apprentice over 40 years ago, I can testify to the positive impact the apprenticeship can have on a career in specialist engineering. This is a business that is steeped in rich local heritage but also has a global reach.

"Its apprentices are part of an operation involved in the production of steel for civil aircraft undercarriages that land somewhere in the world on average every 3sec.”