From pulling pints to supervising staff

Taking a modern apprenticeship has raised 21-year-old Sarah Baxter's career aspirations from a good job behind the bar to a management position at Yates's Wine Lodge in Liverpool.

Though she said the going got tough as she progressed from a foundation to an advanced apprenticeship, the programme has kept her motivation levels high. She said: "It has taught me a lot about how to supervise staff."

Yates's human resources manager, Stuart Fairbairn, said many employees responded to the apprenticeship challenge in a similar way but there were still too many who dropped out because they felt overwhelmed by the programme.

Yates's is trying to get funding from the LSC to develop a new entry-level apprenticeship based on the company's in-house induction training.