More than 1,700 apprentices will be picking up their free toolkits valued at around £250 each on 9 March courtesy of work-based training company JTL and its partners.

Electrical apprentices will be heading for their nearest City Electrical Factors branch to collect their toolkits and heating and plumbing apprentices will be heading to their plumbing merchant for theirs.

The toolkits are highly prized by the apprentices who have traditionally had to make their way through an apprenticeship with ‘hand me down’ tools from their employers or have had to scrape a toolkit together from their own resources.

When they pick up their tools, plumbing apprentices can enter a competition to win £600 worth of additional kit from Monument by tweeting a selfie and tagging #AskForMonument.

JTL chief executive Jon Graham said: “We are delighted to be working with our partners Klein Tools, Super Rod, 3M and Monument Tools in this way. This is one of the initiatives that we believe contributes to our reputation in these sectors, and why we achieve apprenticeship success rates that exceed the national average by some way.

“It’s a generous gesture by our partners and we know from feedback that the apprentices see this as a highlight of their time working with us. Young people are far more likely to look after their own new toolkit than one that has been put together from older and worn tools.”

Jamie Fisher from Monument Tools said: “We value the partnership with JTL and see the provision of these toolkits to heating and plumbing apprentices as a genuine investment in the installers and engineers of the future. We’re impressed by JTL’s desire to fill the skills gaps that undoubtedly exist with high quality young people and we see our involvement as making a contribution to achieving a well-qualified, highly motivated workforce in the years ahead.”

JTL works with in excess of 3,250 employers across England and Wales, ranging from large multinational corporations, to sole traders in the building services engineering sector.