James Kenealey

Said the following about Morson Vital Training's Team:

“Nomination for Morson Vital Training's team, headed by Matthew Leavis

Morson Group are international engineering recruitment and design experts. Founded in 1969 and with a turnover surpassing £800million, the Group is made up of Morson International, Morson Projects and Vital Human Resources. Morson are the UK’s number one rail recruitment company (Recruitment International Top 500).

In 2013, Morson Vital Training was set up by former Network Rail training specialist Matthew Leavis, with the aim of taking his considerable experience in the industry to design vocational qualifications and apprenticeships of the highest quality to complement the Morson offering. The division currently made up of five trainers, three assessors and two specialist associates.

Morson Vital Training has received many industry accolades from key bodies for its commitment to quality. In March 2015, they became the only training provider outside of Transport for London to achieve a license to perform track safety training, as the recruitment team at Morson International supply a large portion of their workforce. The in-house delivery of training demonstrates MVT’s key strengthening position within the larger Group.

In December 2016, MVT became the only rail trainer in the UK to be awarded the first ever ‘platinum’ award by the National Skills Academy for Rail following an assurance review, achieving the status of the number one rail training provider in the country. The accreditation followed an extensive review by 11 industry experts, including the head of training at Network Rail and representatives from Transport for London and Crossrail. The report highlighted the excellent feedback received from the learners, with “a very high regard for the training they receive.” In every category (Learner Outcomes, Quality of Provision, Leadership & Management and Capacity to Improve) MVT received the highest possible accolade. The platinum overall mark stated “the provider is exceptional in all areas. This is ‘best in class’, demonstrating an exceptional commitment to sharing best practice within the training community. The leaders act as role models for integrity, social responsibility and ethical behaviour both internally and externally to enhance the organization’s reputation.” Chief executive of NSAR, Neil Robertson, also stated “the inspection reported exemplary performance in all categories, above and beyond.”

Morson Vital Training strives to put quality above commercial value through their training. Hitting a 96% pass rate is admirable but is seen as the bare minimum. What MVT do, with a smaller number of apprentices, is offer a more thorough and inclusive service. It’s about equity not equality – it’s about giving each apprentice the tools they each specifically need rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. With smaller and more focused groups of apprentices, we are able to deliver this. As stated in the NSAR report, “The trainers and assessors make excellent use of learners’ previous experience to make their training interesting and challenging. They make impressive use of their prior experience to enrich the quality of the training and use activities focused on meeting each learners needs which engage all of the learners actively in their own learning.”

It’s also about quality over quantity, regardless of the commercial benefits that bigger numbers might provide. A percentage of profits generated always goes back into the apprentices, investing in things like upgraded vans that reduce driver fatigue, for example.

Morson Vital Training’s apprenticeships go above and beyond in all aspects. One key way is through offering the living wage to apprentices, not the minimum. This gives apprentices a better quality of life rather than simply looking at profit for the business. We believe this is one of the things that ultimately results in a better quality of apprentice. We also offer a Money Matters course as standard. This financial course offers guidance to all apprentices on income vs expenditure budgeting, the perils of payday loans and taxes. This is particularly useful as some our apprentices come from disadvantaged backgrounds and all ties in with our overall goal of concentrating on the individual. We don’t ‘battery farm’ our apprentices and we put the quality above all else, tailored for the individual. This we believe, one of the key reasons we achieved the best in class platinum accreditation from the NSAR.

MVT also aim to address the concerns of the industry with the increasing average age of trainers by setting up a Centre of Excellence, upskilling new trainers and developing a dedicated five-year progression plan for trainers. This future-proofs the training provision and helps address wider issues. As stated in the NSAR assurance report, “The range and nature of the training and assessment events provided by the provider aligns exactly with the medium and long term developmental needs of its rail industry customers.”

MVT are also strategically aligned with HS2 in terms of delivering what the project will need moving forwards, meaning the business is in an excellent position to provide our apprentices with the skills they will need for this massive project.

The business has also developed a program in the last 12 months for ex-offenders. MVT partnered with HMS Thorn Cross prison to get inmates who have conducted rail training courses while in prison out onto the tracks during the last few months of their sentences, providing valuable hands-on experience.

The last 12 months have been fantastic for MVT. The NSAR award is the perfect, all-encompassing reflection and celebration of this dedication to excellence and shows that what we are doing is really working. We provide a best in class service and truly offer something that’s above and beyond the standard apprenticeship training in terms of quality.“