Horstman Defence System Limited Awarded Gold Membership by the 5% Club

We are proud of our investment in our staff members, which is why we joined The 5% Club. The 5% Club is a dynamic movement of Employers all of whom are inspired to take positive action for increased, inclusive, and accessible workplace training for all. With a membership, which now exceeds 900 companies, The 5% Club represents over 1.6 Million Employees, 101,000 of whom are in “earn and learn” schemes. The Employer Audit is a unique scheme, which validates the employers’ activities, explores their future plans and commitments, as well as examining their approaches to quality, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.

From an impressive list of 180 members, Horstman was one of the 120 Employers who met the Gold Standard.

Mark Cameron OBE, Chief Executive at The 5% Club said, “Our Employer Audit scheme recognises the efforts of all those Employers who invest in their workforce through a broad range of workplace learning schemes. It is fantastic that in these challenging times so many are able to commit to the Employer Audit and to gain the credit for their efforts, and that the majority are striving to expand their schemes over the coming years. Their efforts and achievements are to be applauded.”

Gill Cronin, Director of Operations at The 5% Club added: “Having seen The Club grow to more than 900 members, I am always impressed at the commitment, drive and energy our members channel into offering “earn and learn” skills opportunities. To now see 20 percent of these members gain Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum accredited membership of The Club is inspiring and demonstrates how these companies are all contributing to the future of skills in our economy.”

The 5% Club works with UK employers and key influencers to inspire positive action for increased and accessible workplace learning, focused primarily on the number of apprentices, sponsored students and graduates employed. The goal of The 5% Club is to increase the employment and career prospects of today’s youth and equip the UK with the skilled workforce it needs to safeguard Britain’s economy. The 5% Club was launched in 2013.

Members sign The 5% Club charter. As a member of The 5% Club, employers state they are: Committed to helping the UK’s growth agenda and acknowledge the importance of developing people as both a business and social imperative; Playing their part in addressing youth unemployment and skills shortage; Pledging to work towards having a minimum 5% of their UK workforce enrolled on formalised apprentice, sponsored student and/or graduate development schemes within five years; Measuring and reporting on their progress annually against the above metric in their Corporate Social Responsibility section of the Annual Report and Accounts or equivalent document; Committed to encouraging other employers to participate in the campaign.

Membership of The 5% Club numbers more than 900 organisations from across a broad range of sectors as well as size of company, including large corporations as well as SMEs. The total number of employees represented is now more than 1.6m, with circa 101,00 in “earn & learn” schemes.