News and features

Fri, 24 Jun 2011

Millions available to help retrain workers

Workers in the north-east of the country who are facing unemployment could benefit it their employers take advantage of a training fund for those who might lose their jobs.

Employers in the north-east of the country have been urged to make use of an £8 million fund to help ensure workers have enough staff training.

The money is from the Train to Gain Redundancy Support fund and it backed by the Learning Skills Council (LSC) for the region, reports the Journal.

It is meant to help people who are facing redundancy or those who might be at risk of losing their job to get better staff training to enable them to either stay in their current job or find a new one.

One firm that has already made use of the fund is the Shark Group, which is based in Northumberland.

The company was forced to announce that it was closing, which left 28 members of staff facing unemployment.

However, the firm applied for funding and every former worker was able to take an intensive two-week staff training programme as part of longer 13-week course.

Among the skills that were taught were CV writing, job search techniques, confidence building, career development and communication skills.

The training session has helped 19 of the 28 to find new jobs, while the rest have either opted for self-employment, retirement or further training.

Dorothy Smith, interim regional manager of LSC North East, commented: "In the current economic climate, it is important that we help people before they become unemployed. It is much harder for people to get a job once they are out of the jobs market."

"Train to Gain provides a real lifeline to help those people whose livelihoods are at risk through redundancy."

This comes after the Department of Innovations, Universities and Skills announced that 14 colleges in London will receive funding to provide training to people who are out of work.

To find out more how learndirect can help your business through the recession, see our redundancy support for your business section for more details.