For over 20 years Amazon has been serving customers in the UK, but our commitment here goes well beyond just selling innovative products and services. We are a major employer and investor too, and we provide a market place that enables businesses in the UK to grow and take advantage of global consumers.
The talent in this country is something we are excited to harness to make the UK a major hub for our business. Over the past 10 years we have invested £18 billion in the UK, including new research and development facilities and our operations network. We have become a major UK employer.
We have over 29,500 full time employees across England, Scotland and Wales and over the next two years, we’re hiring over 1,000 apprentices across the UK, including over 90 degree apprentices. Beyond this, the Amazon’ Future Engineer programme seeks to engage a million young people in the UK in computer science and robotics, helping the next generation prepare for the future economy.
We are proud of our record in creating a great place to work. We are first place in LinkedIn’s top companies list in the UK, and ranked first place in Glassdoor’s most In-Demand Companies.. Our people are paid industry leading salaries starting at £10.50 in the London area and £9.50 in the rest of the UK, with comprehensive benefits including private medical cover, income protection insurance and life assurance from day one.
We provide a positive and safe work environment and benchmark against UK national data that shows we have over 40% fewer injuries on average than other transportation and warehousing businesses. You don’t have to take our word for it. You can go online here to arrange a visit to see for yourself how we work.
Amazon in the UK enables business to thrive and grow. Around 122,000 jobs are supported through our supply chain, and 90,000 jobs supported by businesses that sell on Amazon. If you combine these indirect with our own direct employment, that means over 240,000 have their jobs supported by Amazon UK.
As we continue to invest and grow in this country, so does our wider contribution to the UK economy and the public purse. Amazon’s tax contribution help’s fund public services and infrastructure. We do this through the taxes that are directly generated by our business.
Last year, Amazon contributed £793 million to the UK Treasury in direct and indirect taxes. You can read more about this on our website. This doesn’t include the extra taxes that are generated from the business we help to grow or third parties. You can read more here.
For the wider economy we provide a marketplace that helps UK businesses find new customers and prosper. Trade has been a topic of great interest in public discussion in recent years, and here Amazon has a part to play. We enabled over £2 billion in exports last year alone.
Whether it’s a Glasgow candle maker selling in Germany or a micro business selling cosmetics from Dorset, companies selling on Amazon are able to reach customers previously out of reach. Britain’s historic entrepreneurial spirit has a new outlet with Amazon. In 2018, 55% of sales on Amazon.co.uk websites came from independent small and medium businesses from UK.
The UK is a hotbed of talent and opportunity, and we want to play our part in making its future a success. We’re investing and growing here, we’re building a business that innovates and invents right here in this country, and we have a long-term commitment to the UK. To do this we need to work in partnership with the businesses that use our services, the innovators that create the next great ideas, and the policy makers that enable all of this to happen.
Amazon upskilling the nation
Across the UK Amazon is investing in skills. Earlier this year we announced we are creating over 1,000 apprentices, and currently have over 600 training with us. Sixteen different programmes lasting between 13 months and four years are on offer across the country in areas ranging from IT, safety and HR through to software engineering, robotics, leadership and technology.
They are fully-funded roles and include entry level through to bachelors and masters degree-level apprenticeships for software development, automation engineering and senior leadership.
Nicola: pursuing a dream career in engineering
Growing up, Nicola Elliott dreamt of becoming an engineer: “I have always been interested in technology, I liked fixing things but I didn’t think it was possible. I had never met a fully qualified female engineer in my life.”
She discovered Amazon’s Automation Engineering Degree apprenticeship on a website dedicated to women in engineering. It was a chance to fulfil her dream.
Now in the second year of her apprenticeship, Nicola is working at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Bolton. Her four-year scheme offers a blended approach of classroom training and on-the-field practice, culminating in the achievement of an engineering degree alongside a number of academic and vocational qualifications.
Claire: Getting on the ladder
Claire graduated in 2017 from University and found it difficult getting into the job market. After applying for numerous IT jobs, Claire decided to give the apprenticeship at Amazon a go. She says: “I kept on applying for things and wasn’t having much luck. I tried Amazon and they gave me some great feedback on where I lacked the right knowledge and experience. Eventually I joined their apprenticeship scheme and I’ve not looked back.”
Claire is now near the end of the first year of a two and a half year Amazon IT apprenticeship programme. The programme gives experience of working with complex IT systems that help make sure Amazons fulfilment centres run smoothly. Based in Edinburgh, once she graduates she will have a qualification that is the equivalent to a Scottish HND.
“I like gaming and technology, they’ve always been passions of mine. Amazon gives me the opportunity no other company would. Nowhere else would give you the access to working with cutting edge technology and give me the skills I need to have a successful career. On top of that, because it’s such a big company, there is plenty of space to progress as well. In the long term, I want to be the boss.”
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