Scottish boost as Amazon pledges to create more than 1,000 apprenticeships

Amazon is to create more than 1,000 apprenticeships across its UK operations which include major fulfilment centres in Dunfermline and Gourock, and a development centre in Edinburgh.

Amazon is to create more than 1,000 apprenticeships across its UK operations which include a major fulfilment centre in Dunfermline, pictured above, pre-Covid. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA

The online giant said the apprenticeships would cover 25 programmes ranging from IT, safety technician and software engineering to creative digital design.

The roles will pay a minimum of £10.80 an hour in the London area and £9.70 in other parts of the UK, up to £30,000 a year for degree-level apprenticeships.

The programmes will last between 14 months and four years and a typical apprenticeship combines theoretical learning with hands-on training.

Once qualified, apprentices will have the potential to work across Amazon’s UK sites including fulfilment centres, delivery stations and the company’s UK head offices in London and Manchester and development centres in Edinburgh, Cambridge and London.

Amazon created 10,000 new permanent jobs in the UK last year and employs more than 40,000 workers.

John Boumphrey, Amazon’s UK country manager, said: “We are proud to be creating new opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds across the UK to gain skills through our apprenticeship programmes in 25 different fields, from logistics to robotics.

“An Amazon apprenticeship offers an exciting career path, creating opportunities within our local communities across the UK and helping our own employees retrain and gain new skills at a time when investing in people and jobs has never been more important.”

Amazon sales in the UK soared by 51 per cent to almost £20 billion last year as lockdown restrictions shutting swathes of the high street boosted takings.

Filings from the US tech firm earlier this week revealed that UK sales jumped to $26.5bn (£19.4bn) in 2020 from $17.5bn a year earlier.

The latest numbers came after chief executive Jeff Bezos announced that he was stepping down from the top post later this year.

Bezos, who has held the role since he founded the company more than 25 years ago, will be replaced in the autumn by Andy Jassy, who runs Amazon’s cloud business. Bezos will then become the company’s executive chairman.

In a blog post to employees, Bezos said he plans to focus on new products and early initiatives being developed at Amazon.

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