SOCOTEC UK & Ireland celebrates record number of learners with Earn and Learn graduation ceremony

The third annual Earn and Learn ceremony saw 120 colleagues come together at the Pirelli Stadium in Burton-upon-Trent, to mark 85 SOCOTEC staff from across the business who have successfully completed various learning and development courses.

The event also saw the global launch of SOCOTEC’s Blue Academy, a learning and development initiative that plans to revolutionise and expand the growth opportunities available to all staff.

Those at the 2025 Earn and Learn ceremony were the first graduates falling under the Blue Academy banner.

With the entirety of the SOCOTEC UK & Ireland Executive Team in attendance, CEO Matthew Marriott welcomed attendees to the Pirelli, and HR Director, Lisa Massey led the ceremony, with those who had successfully completed their courses coming up to the stage to receive an award and photograph to mark the occasion.

In his opening statement, Matthew discussed his own commitment to learning, based upon his own experiences to date, from the completion of his apprenticeship, to studying for an MBA at Warwick University.

The Earn and Learn ceremony is just one part of the greater SOCOTEC learning and development offering. Having achieved a highly sought after Gold rating in The 5% Club, and a Great Place to Work Rating this year, the department is looking to continue its recent successes.

Lisa Added:

"As we look to 2026, we are close to launching our annual L&D calendar, and extending our relationships with a number of key educational institutions across the UK and Ireland, as well as looking to the future and embracing AI to improve and expand our learning offering.

"We pride ourselves on recognising the exceptional level of talent we have throughout the business: from early careers apprentices to upskilling employees, no matter at what stage of their career they are at, we have so many success stories at SOCOTEC, and cannot wait to write some more over the next 12 months."