£1m invested in skills support across city region
BUSINESSES across the Leeds City Region are benefitting from LEP support and grants totalling over £1m to invest in skills and training their staff. The funding has supported the training of over 2,000 individuals within almost 300 businesses across the region.
The LEP skills service is designed to support ambitious small and medium sized companies in Leeds City Region looking to develop the skills of their staff to help grow the business. The LEP secured funding from government to support growing businesses and deliver the ambition of creating a skilled and flexible workforce in the Leeds City Region.
One business that has secured funding through the LEP’s skills service is manufacturer Crompton Mouldings, which is currently in the process of relocating to a larger premises and increasing its workforce.
Crompton Mouldings designs and manufactures moulded products such as grit boxes, drainage products and cattle feeders, supplies a number of large agricultural, construction, medical and civil service organisations across the country.
The £2,600 grant from the LEP’s skills service is being used by the company to provide specialist training for a new rotational moulding machine which will increase the company’s capacity.
The LEP funding has enabled Crompton Mouldings, to expand its offering, as the new rotational moulding machine will give the business the opportunity to design and manufacture a range of larger products in-house.
Michael Gilmore, production director of Crompton Mouldings, said: “We approached the LEP for skills support in order to increase staff efficiency, prepare employees for a surge in orders and ready the business for relocation to a larger premises with new machinery. Through the LEP skills service we were able to access funding to maximise our training budget enabling us to provide a full package of training for our team.
“The LEP skills service has played a huge part in making sure our business continues to grow and reaches its full potential.”
LEP Board member and skills lead, Mark Ridgway, of Group Rhodes said: “With grants of between £500 and £50,000 available to businesses with a budget to put towards training, employers have the opportunity to work with a team of expert skills advisors, discuss their long term growth plans and skills needs, and put together a robust training plan for their staff.”
As part of the LEP’s wider ambitions to invest in business growth, the skills service can support up to 50% of training costs for eligible businesses throughout the Leeds City Region.
