Virgin Active has enlisted around 100 of its staff on a bespoke apprenticeship programme in a bid to recruit more of its senior management from within the business.

In total, 111 staff members will receive Level 3 Team Leader Supervisor training in small cohorts.

Believed to be the first of its kind, the training has been created in partnership with Active IQ and will see groups being trained and assessed in phases, to enable "efficient cascading of learnings to other groups" as they progress.

“We identified a skills gap among our management population and sought to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours to be the best leaders they can be,” said Sean Marcs, Virgin Active's learning and development business partner.

It is is the first foray into apprenticeships by Virgin Active and the first group of 14 trainees completed their end-point assessments in July.