OPUS have joined a prestigious group of leading national companies working to develop the Government’s apprenticeship programme.

Opus Building Services, specialist electrical and mechanical contractors, will join household names such as Sainsburys, Virgin Media, Boots and the Co-op to develop a proposed Apprenticeship Trailblazer in Management and Leadership.

Groups of employers – Trailblazers – have been working with the Government to reform apprenticeship schemes. The Trailblazers have been leading the way in developing and changing apprenticeships for future challenges. The ultimate goal is todesign a apprenticeship standards and assessment approaches to make them world class.

Our group is working on aproposed Trailblazer in Management and Leadership. We’re working with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), the professional body for management and leadership, who set the standards for this sector.

We’re aiming to develop Apprenticeship standards in Management and Leadership, covering junior, middle and senior managers.We will buildon the recent report ‘Management 2020: Leadership to Unlock Long-Term Growth’ and the accidental manager, an inquiry set up by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Management and the CMI which looksat what management and leadership skills will be needed by employers in the future.