Callum Aitken, who began his journey as a trainee electrician at MidKent College in 2016, had high hopes of securing a full-time job in his chosen career.

However, his dreams have been put on hold due to the prolonged wait for his qualification.

Since then, he has attended the Gillingham campus for weekly theory classes and workshops and worked on the job under the supervision of his employer in Sittingbourne.

But Callum said he had been dogged with hurdles to achieve his goal, including a lack of assessors to mark and sign off on his work, tutors leaving suddenly, and his coursework being misplaced.

The lack of qualification has hit the 24-year-old in the pocket as he earns a fraction of what a fully trained electrician takes home, which could be up to £360 a day.

He said: “My boss has been very supportive, and I earn above the apprentice wage, about £80 a day.

“But at the age of 24, I would be expecting perhaps to be running my own business. It’s holding me up. I can’t afford to rent a place nor go out socialising with my mates as much.”

To compound matters, the City and Guilds, which awards the NVQ diploma, is removing the course next summer, and students are being asked to submit all knowledge and competency units for marking by the end of July.

But Callum, a former Howard School in Rainham pupil, described this as an “impossible deadline” as he still had many tasks that had not been assigned to him.

He also said he was not an isolated case, and of the 20 or so students who embarked on the City and Guilds Level 3 NVQ diploma course when he did, only a handful remained.

The apprentice added: “They have either paid for the course independently or got more lucrative jobs.

“I’ve invested too much time in this. If I gave up now, I’d be back to square one. It would be like leaving school.”

Callum, who rents a room at the home of his girlfriend’s grandfather in Halling, near Rochester, said he did not have the £9,000 it would cost to complete the diploma privately.

He added: “It’s all very well to blame delays on Covid and lockdown, but that was just a blip. I feel resentful, as though I’ve been forgotten.”

His boss, Charl Alberts, director of First Fix Electrics in Sittingbourne, who took him on when he was 16, has complained to the college numerous times on his behalf.

A spokesman for MidKent College acknowledged delays but said they were working hard on deadlines beyond their control.