Roadchef gift unspent levy funds to support the care sector

Working in partnership with Paragon Skills, Roadchef has gifted over £21,000 in unspent levy funding to healthcare employers to support the recruitment and upskilling of employees through apprenticeships.

Whilst most catering and hospitality companies choose to donate their leftover funds within the same sector or simply let their funds expire, Roadchef has decided to utilise the opportunity granted by the apprenticeship levy scheme to transfer up to 25% of its annual funds to the care and health sectors.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the care sector to recruit new team members and upskill existing teams at an unprecedented pace. Working in partnership with Paragon Skills, Roadchef aims to support healthcare companies that have been under extraordinary pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic and to help them carry on their vital work.

Assisting with this recruitment and upskilling, the apprenticeship levy funds are being offered for use in L2/L3 Adult Care and L2/L3 Healthcare Support. Both apprenticeships last for 12-18 months, with the former providing high-quality and compassionate health and social care for a wide range of people and the latter delivering leading frontline care for vulnerable adults within their own homes, daycare centres, residential, and nursing homes and other healthcare settings. Our full range of care apprenticeships can be viewed here.

The decision to support the care sector after such a difficult year aligns with one of Roadchef’s core values, to be caring in everything that it does, as well as with the company’s ongoing fundraising work with Cancer Research.

Mark Fox, CEO at Roadchef, said:

“Caring is one of Roadchef’s three core values so choosing to support this sector rather than let our unused funds go to waste was an easy business decision. The care sector is under immense strain and there are reports to suggest that the sector was struggling with a shortfall of more than 120,000 vacancies even before the pandemic hit. We hope that by donating our unused apprenticeship funds we can help to alleviate some of this pressure and make a significant impact for the better by ensuring more people choose the care sector for their future workplace. Healthcare workers have done so much for the nation in the past year, and we want to support them and say a big thank you.”