Thames Water plans to recruit more than 1,000 people

The firm said the "ambitious" recruitment programme would create jobs in London and the Thames Valley

Utility company Thames Water plans to recruit more than 1,000 people this year, it has said.

The firm, based in Reading, Berkshire, said it wants to up-skill people who are out of work due to the pandemic.

It hopes its "ambitious" recruitment programme will create jobs in London and the Thames Valley.

Thames Water chief executive Sarah Bentley said creating opportunities for those who have lost jobs "is the right thing to do".

The most recent unemployment figures revealed 1.72 million people were jobless.

Just over 750 new roles have been created by Thames Water since the start of the pandemic, it said

Ms Bentley said: "I'm proud of what we've done already as an essential service to help those in need and we will continue to create many more opportunities for people to build their careers at Thames Water to help us achieve our plans."

The company - which has employed 758 new-starters since the start of the pandemic - said it would also triple the number of apprentices, support 50 unemployed young people as part of the government's Kickstart Scheme, and launch a sector-based work academy programme (Swap) in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).