Skills Bank – by numbers

Sheffield City Region’s Skills Bank programme has been running since April 2019 and has recently secured its 100th business sign up.

To mark the centennial, we take a look at the numbers behind the scheme which offers companies access, funding and support for bespoke training to plug skills gaps and grow their business.

Just before Christmas, the Skills Bank team approved their 100th application, made by Tecomet, a provider of manufacturing solutions for complex, high-precision products and services for the Medical Device and Aerospace markets based in Sheffield, who will put 90 learners through the programme.

Skills Bank is open to any business based in the Sheffield City Region and has received applications from companies in all nine areas currently a part of the SCR – Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Doncaster, North East Derbyshire, Rotherham, and, of course, Sheffield itself.

Skills Bank was purposely designed to directly respond to businesses, allowing for the delivery of flexible and responsive training that meets identified training needs there and then.

Its focus is on helping employers to grow their business by developing the skills they need and puts employers from across the Sheffield City Region in charge of their own skills and training plans.

Skills Bank’s expert team is dedicated to providing the right support, advice and direction to businesses with specialist Skills Advisors who will help businesses to cut through the jargon and red tape associated with training.

At the time of writing, more than 1,000 learners have been approved to receive bespoke training arranged and part-funded by Skills Bank.

As well as covering all areas of the SCR, the Skills Bank programme is open to businesses from practically any sector. So far, manufacturing and engineering have been the sectors most benefitting from Skills Bank with nearly 50 companies signing up.

However, businesses from sectors such as professional services, retail, construction, property, healthcare, and creative & digital have also been turning to Skills Bank to help them to grow by embracing the bespoke training on offer.

The latest figures reveal that the value of the training approved so far is worth more than £1.2 million.

Skills Bank is set to smash the target of providing training to 1,900 learners during the first year of the programme.

Skills Bank helps businesses understand the impact training their staff can have on their growth ambitions, productivity and staff retention. Businesses that work with the programme’s Skills Advisors receive a personalised service which helps them to identify the right training and supports them to decide for themselves who they want to deliver that training.

And where existing training does not exist, Skills Bank can develop tailor-made programmes specifically designed to address the needs of that business.

Further information on the programme, for both employers and training providers, can be found at skillsbankscr.co.uk which outlines some of the training on offer as well as details on the range of training providers already involved in the scheme.

The on-line application can also be found here and the process couldn’t be easier.

Closing the skills gap shouldn’t be daunting. Skills Bank is here to help.

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