Kingdom employs 170 staff, 50 of whom are classed as ‘Young people and managers/influencers of Young People’.

The Association’s positive approach to youth employment is aligned to its future growth aspirations and in particular to succession planning with young people bringing fresh ideas to the organisation which has been invaluable during a process of cultural transformation.

Bill Banks, Kingdom’s chief executive, said: “At Kingdom, our mission is to provide ‘More than a home’. A key part of that mission is to help the communities we operate in flourish so providing pathways into meaningful employment for young people in those communities is very important to us.

“We have worked very hard on that over the past few years through our trainee programme, trades apprenticeship scheme, construction academy and participation in broader Developing Young Workforce projects and initiatives such as Career Ready so I am very proud to have that recognised though IiYP Gold accreditation.”

Andrew Latto, interim director of HR at Kingdom, said: “We are delighted to have achieved the IiYP Gold award. As Bill says, our work on supporting the employability and development of young people very much aligns with our mission and purpose but it’s also brought great benefits to Kingdom as an employer.

“As well as supporting our succession plans and building a pipeline of talent to support the future development of our business, it has brought us a greater diversity of thinking which has helped drive our broader culture change programme.”

Bonnie Clarke, chief executive of Remarkable, the organisation delivering the Investors in Young People accreditation in Scotland, added: “I am delighted to be able to celebrate the Investors in Young People Gold Standard award to Kingdom Housing. They have demonstrated an impressive approach to youth employment and care about each person’s career progression.

“They have demonstrated innovative approaches to building engagement across the teams and The Career Change Traineeship is worthy of particular note.  Congratulations, this is a great achievement and one you should be really proud of.”