Mander Duffill are celebrating after being commended for their commitment to training and skills development by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal at a ceremony at St James’s Palace in London.
Mander Duffill were one of 40 companies awarded The Princess Royal Training Award, all of which demonstrated their ability to create lasting impact by successfully linking their skills development needs to their business models. Other recipients of the award were from across the public and private sectors and a wide range of industries, including Barclays Bank, RBS, Waitrose, HMRC and Mercedes-Benz Cars UK. Mander Duffill are the only accountancy firm in the country to receive the award.
The award recognises the development of a successful apprenticeship scheme which transforms local school leavers into confident accountants. By offering apprenticeships, which include on the job training in our office in Chippenham town centre and technical skills courses at Bath-based White Horse Training, we have significantly increased the number of staff and demonstrated that training can have a significant impact on productivity and business success.
The Princess Royal Training Awards are delivered by the City & Guilds Group to highlight the value of training and employee development and celebrate examples of best practice. Companies are assessed against three Hallmarks of Excellence by the Princess Royal Training Awards Commission, which comprised of HRH The Princess Royal and seven leading figures in the business and training community.
Julian Duffill receiving the Princess Royal Training Award from HRH Princess Anne at St James’s Palace on Thursday 2 November.
Commenting on the award, Julian Duffill, Managing Partner of Mander Duffill, said: “We are immensely proud that our apprentices and the development we offer at Mander Duffill has been recognised by this prestigious award. Our people, their training and development are incredibly important to us and key to the success of our business. We are delighted that this has been acknowledged by the City & Guilds Group and the Princess Royal Training Award.”
Chris Jones, Chief Executive of the City & Guilds Group added: “It’s fantastic to celebrate the second annual Princess Royal Training Awards and honour Barclays Bank, RBS, Coventry Building Society and Mander Duffill in the financial sector. It has never been more important for Britain’s businesses to invest in training to boost their productivity, address skills gaps and develop their leaders.
I congratulate all the successful organisations who presented examples of the innovative, inspiring and impactful training that’s taking place across the UK today. They are truly worthy recipients of this rigorously assessed royal award and we are delighted to be able to honour their achievements through the Princess Royal Training Awards.”
Former apprentice and now an Assistant Client Manager at Mander Duffill, Olivia Adlam, who was involved in the submission and assessment, said: “It was a great honour to be involved in the process of our firm achieving this award and to be invited to St James’s Palace for the awards ceremony. It’s been fantastic to see the firm recognised for its training and development of staff and I am very grateful that I was able to represent past and present apprentices.”
Andy Davis, Olivia Adlam and Julian Duffill at St James’s Palace on Thursday 2 November.
For more information about The Princess Royal Training Awards, please click here