Kingdom Housing Association has achieved the Investors in Young People (IIYP) Accreditation, the only people management standard that focuses on an employer’s recruitment and retention of young people.

The award represents a true commitment to the training and development of young people and demonstrates Kingdom as an employer of choice for young people.

It is the latest example of Kingdom being acknowledged for the work it is doing to provide opportunities for young people. Last year, Kingdom’s trainee programme was shortlisted in the Chartered Institute of Housing’s annual awards and its HR Trainee was named Apprentice of the Year at those same awards. Kingdom has also been shortlisted for the Fife Business Awards in the Developing the Young Workforce category.

Bill Banks, Kingdom Group chief executive, said: “Our mission here at Kingdom Housing is to ‘Build Homes and Communities’ so it’s very rewarding to be recognised for our efforts in supporting the young people in our communities to find their way into the world of work.

“We’re not resting on our laurels though and, as well as continuing the work we’ve been doing, we’re looking at other initiatives too. For example, we recently signed up to the Career Ready programme which pairs up S5/6 school pupils with mentors in local employers.”

Andrew Latto, Kingdom’s head of HR, said: “We’re very proud to get IIYP accreditation especially after the other recognition we’ve had recently. We have worked hard at providing opportunities for young people so it’s great to have external confirmation we’re doing the right things. Through the accreditation process, we’ve had some suggestions on how we can do even better so we’re working on implementing those.

“We’re particularly proud of our trainee programme and are planning for our next year’s intake so, if you know a young person who might be interested in a 3 year paid traineeship with us, please ask them to keep an eye out for more information in April/May.”

Peter Russian, chief executive of Remarkable, the home for Investors in People in Scotland, added: “Congratulations to Kingdom Housing Association on their Investors in Young People award which is testament to their fantastic work with young people. I hope that many more organisations in East Central Scotland are inspired by Kingdom Housing Association and begin to work with Investors in Young People to further their youth employment activity.”