Young people applying for jobs in the environmental sector face a significant hurdle: they start with no practical experience.
To help with this, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust started their Wild Trainees scheme in 2022, in which young people work three days a week for a year supervised by a land manager or similar.
They gain experience in practical skills such as chain-sawing, driving all-terrain vehicles and wildlife surveying.
But the scheme is unpaid, to avoid any issues with employment law or minimum wage which would make it unviable, and so the trainees have to use the other half of the week to support themselves.
The Society has made £10,000 available to support their training, equipment and travel – technically we cannot pay living expenses.
Our aim is that there will be more trainees completing their year, and that a broader and more diverse range of young people will be able to consider applying for the scheme.