Pilgrim’s UK has launched its Butchery and Abbattoir academy to attract new talent amid a skills shortage in the meat trading industry.
It comes in response to significant labour challenges within the sector in recent years, which has led to the culling of more than 35,000 healthy pigs on farms due to staff shortages at processing plants.
The pork giant said it was creating dedicated training facilities at its sites as part of the new training initiative, with the company investing in the programme to “support skills development in UK-based workers and open up new opportunities for people to develop a career in the sector.”
The Level 2 Butchery and Abattoir apprenticeship will be available to UK-based applicants and will be offered in partnership with the training provider Bishop Burton College.
Successful applicants will receive training involving a mixture of classroom learning and working with the on-site team enabling them to become a Level 2 apprentice within 18 months.
“We’re committed to providing training and employment opportunities as a business, which is why we’re being proactive in putting programmes like this in place,” vice president HR at Pilgrim’s UK, Rachel Baldwin said.
She added: “Labour shortages continue to put a strain on the sector, so we hope that this initiative will go some way in helping to attract recruits into our industry and promote the opportunities available.”
Head of butchery development at Pilgrim’s UK, Konrad Pacholski, also offered his view: “Labour challenges are impacting a number of industries and it’s something we’re working hard to tackle at Pilgrim’s UK as one of the UK’s largest food and farming businesses.”
This apprentice programme will be a trial for the first year with hopes to “expand our offering in the years to come,” Pacholski added.
The news comes as Pilgrim’s UK proposed the closure of its Bury St Edmunds and Coalville production sites back in September, risking the jobs of over 600 of its workers.
