A DARWEN-BASED company is making headlines in the apprenticeship world after scooping a prize for employer of the year and seeing seven of its employees reach the finals of a national construction competition.

WEC Group won the BAE Systems award for Large Employer of the Year at the National Apprenticeship Awards 2016 regional ceremony.

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The group will now compete to represent the North West in the national finals in London in January.

Meanwhile seven of its apprentices have reached the national finals of the WorldSkillsUK Construction MetalWork competition which will be held in November in Birmingham.

The Themis at Burnley College apprentices, who work at the engineering and fabrication company, were chosen out of 84 competitors from 14 different training centres across the UK.

If successful, the apprentices will compete at the WorldSkills International competition in Kazan, Russia in 2019.

Burnley College has worked with WEC since 2013 and its apprentices have reached the WorldSkills UK finals every year since then.

One apprentice James Ennis scored the highest-ever recorded UK score at the WorldSkills UK regional heat. Kris Mercer, WEC Group’s training and development manager, said: “We are extremely delighted and proud to be recognised by the National Apprenticeship Service for our commitment to investing in apprenticeships.

“We put a huge amount of effort and money into ensuring our young people receive the best possible training, setting them up for a rewarding career in engineering and helping to close the worrying industry skills gap.”

Sue Husband, director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said: “The National Apprenticeship Awards enable exceptional apprentices and dedicated employers to receive the recognition they richly deserve.

“Apprenticeships enable people to gain the skills and knowledge they need to succeed - in some cases up to degree level and for businesses to grow the talent they need.

Of the WorldSkills UK competition, Simon Jordan, director of Themis at Burnley College, said: “To have Themis apprentices in with a chance of winning a prestigious award for a third year in a row is an amazing achievement.

“Each apprentice has worked and trained extremely hard to get to the high level they are now working at and I wish them all the best for the finals in Birmingham later this year.”

Kevin Scott, on behalf of the association of welding, fabrication and training and education, said: “It is a huge honour for WEC Group’s apprentices to be competing in the Construction MetalWork WorldSkills UK National finals. “The team have been training tirelessly over summer.” to prepare themselves for the national finals, which has been going exceptionally well.

“By November we will have seven very capable fabrication and welding apprentices each with every chance of being chosen to represent the UK in Kazan, Russia 2019.”

The company is also in the running to feature in the Top 100 apprenticeship employers list 2016.