Hattie isn’t just a woman plumber, she’s an innovative entrepreneur
Finding your way through all the training so that you can become a plumber can be very confusing. At Stopcocks we provide what we believe to be the only map through as well as impartial advice and a great alternative to money down the pan.
Right now, the training to become a qualified plumber is in the process of being overhauled. This means information on current and outmoded courses is available on the internet and it’s impossible to know which is which.
What is worse is that the whole industry is geared to draw its trainees from the 16-24 age range and the vast majority of women who go into plumbing are over 25.
Funding is available to pay for courses for 16-19 year olds and for a portion of the fees of 19-24 year olds to be paid. This means that local authority construction colleges aren’t much cheaper than unscrupulous private training institutions for the over 25’s who become an easy target.
Since its the private institutions who pay for advertising, its them who come up in google searches.
Add to this, that they’re flexible in how you pay (often over up to five years) how you attend and you won’t have to train in a classroom with 16 year old boys it’s easy to see why older plumbing trainees often choose the private institutions.
Just because they’re private doesn’t make them bad of course and this flexibility and faster tracking suits adults with homes and families.
However…
The current requirements rightly demand plumbing trainees get out into the world and practise their art in real life to qualify.
Even construction colleges can’t guarantee their trainees work or placements and when they do it’s on terms set up for people under 25.
We spoke recently to a local authority plumber whose (male) apprentice is in his forties with a family to support. As an apprentice, he’s paid £10 per day. When the training takes two years this is untenable for almost all adults. (An apprenticeship is when you study and are employed as a plumber at the same time. The alternative is placements, where you do blocks of work and blocks of training, often with the work coming after the college training. It’s sometimes possible to have another job too, to pay the bills)
These apprenticeship’jobs’ are hard enough to find at £10 a day and it’s unrealistic to expect the sole traders who make up most of the countries construction firms to support the industry’s sustainability. But it seems this is the expectation. Most private training institutions don’t have the connections within the industry to get their trainees real work experience even at £10 a day.
There are few alternatives.
but we at Stopcocks provide one.
We’re now collaborating with a reputable college to combine quality, fully certificated 6189 Diploma NVQ2 level training at the same time as working with us as a self-employed Stopcocks Woman Plumber. So our trainees can gain skills and competence, receive support and supervision and earn as a self-employed Stopcocks Women Plumber.
Contact us to find out more
