Kevin Crocker is the 3000th learner to enrol on his Skills for Life qualifications in literacy and numeracy at Whitbread. He is currently Senior Grill Chef at the Gordano Gate in Portishead, Bristol, where he joined Whitbread as a Team Member two years ago. Whitbread employees are encouraged to improve their skills as part of the company's successful apprenticeship scheme.

Kevin sees the successful completion of his Skills for Life qualifications as an important step towards becoming a Head Chef at one of Whitbread's many sites across the UK. "I've always pushed myself to learn and improve my skills", he says.

"As soon as I've achieved something I'm looking for the next challenge. For me, getting Skills for Life under my belt was always the first step towards completing a Level 2 Apprenticeship in Food Production and Cooking, which would allow me to get to where I really want to be."

Whitbread partnered with MindLeaders to deliver the Skills for Life element of its Apprenticeship programme through a combination of eLearning and the one-to-one coaching from MindLeaders Learning Support Managers (LSMs) in 2008. More recently, Whitbread has begun working with MindLeaders to deliver the new Functional Skills qualifications, which become mandatory in October this year as part of any apprenticeship.

Functional Skills replace Key Skills and Skills for Life as a mandatory component of apprenticeships from September 2012. MindLeaders delivers this scheme for apprenticeships for large employers throughout the care, retail, and hospitality sectors.