Somerset-based road haulage firm C&D South West is celebrating the success of its Kickstart scheme trainee Bailey Wright who has achieved a distinction under the programme.

Wright (pictured) gained a distinction on his end point assessment (EPA) for his customer service practitioner apprenticeship, as well as completing functional skills in Maths and English.

The £1.9bn Kickstart scheme was launched in September 2020 in response to a significant forecast rise in youth unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It aimed to support up to 250,000 participants to start jobs by December 2021 through six-month work placements and targeted 16-to 24-year-olds who were on Universal Credit and deemed at risk of long-term unemployment. The scheme finally closed in September 2022. 

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C&D signed up to the Kickstart programme in October 2021 as part of its commitment to growing local talent through its family business, as well its desire to expand its workforce and staff skill sets. The company said this week that Wright's success is a testimonial to the success of this strategy adding that the Kickstart scheme had been a "huge success" in many ways for C&D.

Wright joined the business in October 2021 and over the past 18 months has worked with Yeovil College alongside his role as transport operations administrator to achieve numerous qualifications.

C&D managing director, Lorna Hammond, said: "We are always open to trying new things - whether that be ways of working or learning. Introducing this scheme into the business and giving Bailey the opportunity to complete this programme is something that we are extremely proud of, and even more so now that he has achieved such wonderful grades.”

“Our focus now is to continue to up-skill our team, giving them to the tools and learning they need to do their desired role.”

C&D was founded in 1987 provides distribution services to a range of clients. Based in Chard, Somerset, it offers a guaranteed 24-hour delivery service to every UK postcode every day, with 96% of the business being palletised distribution for customers within a 40-mile radius of its headquarters.

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