The career progression that comes with plumbing courses and other professional training has been lauded.

Speaking to the Guardian, Pimlico Plumbers worker Brian Grice suggested many people who go to university often have to "start again" with additional qualifications when they leave their educational establishments.

The publication highlighted how Mr Grice undertook an apprenticeship that involved him being employed while completing plumbing courses, before doing the equivalent programme for gas procedures.

"My dad, who is a design engineer and has both a degree and an apprenticeship, advised me to get out into the workplace as soon as possible," the tradesman, who left school at 16, was quoted as saying.

Mr Grice, 26, earned