UM Group has supported a long-serving colleague by sponsoring him to undertake a degree while continuing with his busy day job.

Steve Harrington has worked at UM Terminals for over 15 years, based at the company’s Regent Road Terminal in Liverpool.

Steve started out with Tate & Lyle as an electrical apprentice at the age of 17 – the business was subsequently bought by W&R Barnett and rebranded initially as UM Storage and then UM Terminals.

After completing his apprenticeship, Steve gained a series of promotions to Electrical Craftsman, Junior Electrical Engineer and, in 2018, Electrical Control Instrumentation Engineer.

Despite his various promotions, Steve was keen to continue learning and develop his career and approached UM to see if it would be willing to support him by sponsoring him to undertake a BEng (Hons) Electrical & Electronic Engineering degree.

UM was delighted to back their employee and Steve recently passed the four-year degree at Manchester Metropolitan University with a 1^st class honours.

Steve said: “I was keen to continue advancing myself, gaining new knowledge and skills to help me in my job and with future career progression.

“I selected the degree that I thought was most relevant and UM could not have been more supportive in sponsoring me.

“Due to my work commitments, the degree was part-time with me working four days at UM and one day a week release for university.

“It also meant a lot of time studying in the evenings and at weekends but achieving the 1^st class pass made all the hard work worthwhile.”

Steve’s role as an Electrical Control Instrumentation Engineer involves him, and colleague Jon Wilson [Engineering Manager], scoping and building out customer projects covering design, installation and commissioning.

Steve, who is 32 and lives in Wirral, said: “I love what I do and am passionate about finding solutions for customers and getting projects up and running.

“I have always had an electrical mind, ever since I was a youngster, and have looked to keep progressing, whether with various NVQ qualifications or with the degree.

“I wanted to add further knowledge to help me in my current and future roles and I am grateful to UM for supporting me.

“Hopefully, my story can also provide inspiration to others including young apprentices starting out on their careers.”