Oliver’s weaving a top textile career

began working at Camira in July ,2016, after completing an apprenticeship taster week to gain experience across different departments throughout the business.

He is employed in Camira’s technical services department, where he is responsible for wide-ranging technical testing and continuous improvement projects to ensure product quality of the company’s globally-sourced raw materials.

He has already visited important suppliers in Spain and Bulgaria who supply yarn for the company’s annual production of more than 8m metres of woven fabric for buses, trains, and commercial interiors.

Oliver took just 366 days to complete his Modern Apprenticeship, gaining an NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Textile Design and Manufacture

which will be presented at the Textile Centre of Excellence annual awards ceremony next month.

Alan Williams, operations director at Camira, said he was delighted with Oliver’s progress and future potential.

“This is great news for Oliver and another accolade for our awardwinning apprenticeship scheme,” he said.

“It’s vital we continue to ensure technical skills continuity in textiles and it’s very rewarding for everyone involved in Oliver’s training to see him excel in both his academic studies and his professional career.”

Oliver, who will receive the award at a civic dinner at Clothworkers Hall in London, said: “I’m proud to have been recognised by the wider textiles industry and I’m grateful to the Textile Centre of Excellence for nominating me for the Lord Barnby Award.

“It’s a reflection of the hard work I’ve put into the apprenticeship programme which has helped me develop a range of personal attributes, as well as applying technical knowledge and problem solving to bring real business benefits to Camira.”

Camira has its headquarters at Wheatley Park, Mirfield, and 500,000sq ft of manufacturing facilities across five sites, including Meltham Mills. The company operates has overseas offices in nine overseas countries as well as a network of agents and distributors.

Recent contracts have include ones for Swiss Rail, Transport for London, the Manchester Arena, BBC MediaCityUK and the University of Huddersfield. USINESS start-ups have been warned to avoid falling foul of pension rules. New businesses launching from October 1 must include staff pension schemes in their start-up costs – even if they are only employing one person, a local tax specialist has warned.

Nick Brook, who owns TaxAssist Accountants at Lockwood, said: “From this October, any business start-up which employs one or more people, must auto-enrol them on a company pension scheme and contribute to their pension pot.

“There is no breathing space for new businesses under the new pension rules, despite the host of other cost considerations they face as they launch their new enterprise.

“They must set up a company pension scheme and a total of 2% of eligible staff’s wages must be contributed, of which at least 1% must come from the employer.

“Those percentages will increase year-on-year until they reach a total minimum contribution of 8% in 2019, of which at least 3% must come from the employer.

“Between now and March next year, some 400,000 small businesses across the UK will be reaching their staging date for workplace pension schemes and we’re advising many local business owners, who have now received notices from the Pensions Regulator.”

Mr Brook said: “Many have planned well in advance and have fully compliant pension schemes up and running already, but for those employers yet to comply with the new rules, they must act quickly.

“The Pensions Regulator is carrying out spot checks across the country and can impose a £400 fixed penalty, escalating to daily fines set at a minimum of £50 per day for non-compliance and the possibility of civil penalties and court action.”