'I used to drive tanks for the Army - now I love my new career as a school caretaker'

The firm matches candidates and schools and since 2013 has assisted more than 7,000 people into work through its relationships with over 2,000 schools and multi-academy trusts.

One of those to recently find a new role is Yorkshireman and former British Army tank driver Andy Beck, who has started working at Christ Church Upper Armley Primary School in Leeds.

Beck, 53 and originally from Slaithwaite but now living in Shipley, says the role is not his first after leaving the military but finds the skills and mindset he developed in the Army to be handy in his new role.

“There’s masses of compliance. You’ve got to be minded to work on your own and structured quite well with your time management.”

Andy says that as a young man he wanted to join the military and went into the Royal Dragoon Guards.

“In the 1970s, there was a lot about the military on the news and you had the old comic books. I always wanted to go that way, it just seemed a natural thing for me.”

He was stationed in Germany and was also involved in tours in Northern Ireland and the first Gulf War.

“I drove tanks. I started on the Chieftain and then moved to the Challenger 1. That was a massive upgrade. I used to love it in Germany, in those days it was a family where you knew everybody and the older lot would look after you. It was a massive family feeling.”

After doing eight years and leaving the Army to have a family, Andy initially worked as a truck driver and then got a job at a brewery as a drayman.

“When you leave it is a bit of a shock because you haven’t got that backup and family feeling you had in the Army.

“After 20 years as a drayman, the mind was willing but the body wasn’t.

“Me and my wife Gail saved up for a year, we don’t have a mortgage, and we took a year off to reset.

“I’d been on lots of blood pressure tablets. We just enjoyed and did a lot of walking.

“Coming back after a year I was looking for something to do and do something to help.

“That is where I found TIB. I went through the interview process and got placed into different primary schools.

“I found out how much I enjoyed it. Because I’m good at DIY I can actually help mend stuff and keep it all nice and neat and tidy.

After initially working at Christ Church on a temporary basis, he applied for a full-time role there as the site superintendent which he got earlier this year.

He says he enjoys the school environment for many reasons.

“It is a lovely school in an old 18th century building with lots of character.

“The children are brilliant. It’s a really diverse school and the kids are happy. It is really good.”

Andy works a full 37.5 hour week which he splits into three 10-hour days and two 3.5-hour days.

“I’m not interested in earning more - when we had the year off we realised that we probably didn’t need as much money as we needed to live. I feel a lot clearer in my head and happy. I’m not on any of the tablets I was on before.

“We walk everywhere now and it has totally helped reset my mindset.With working on the schools, I’ve always thought that if you don’t believe in the youth of today, there’s no future tomorrow.

“It is an environment I enjoy working in.”

Andy also praises the role of TIB Services in helping set him down his new career path.

The company’s focus on helping over-50s back into work comes in the context of International Longevity Centre UK figures which state that while there are 1.6m people between 50 and 69 who have been pushed out of work early, the British economy is facing a 2.6m shortfall of paid workers by 2030.

Recent research by TIB Services among almost 200 people who had returned to work with the company’s assistance found nearly half had returned to the workforce after retiring. Nine in ten of those asked saying they had done so to stay mentally and physically active, with only 33 per cent saying financial considerations were behind their reason to keep working.

Andy says he wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the company.

“They put you through all your training. Then they match you with schools who need support, sometimes for a few months at a time.

“No two schools are the same with how they are and how they are run.

“The over-50s is a workforce that is very well driven and you can leave alone to get on with work.

“A lot of them want to come back but it is finding that right role. I’m lucky that through the process I’ve gone through, I’m happy now until I probably get to retirement.

“But not everybody can find that and a lot of mainstream companies aren’t that way inclined when it comes to hiring.

“I hope doing this interview gives people an idea of where they can go. I know a lot of ex-soldiers suffer later in life. TIB have been brilliant.”