BE MORE – New Liverpool Training Initiative Helps Businesses to Grow
Liverpool ‘Be More’ project aims to further improve skills across the Liverpool City Region through the provision of funded training.
Through the Be More training fund, businesses based in the Liverpool City Region (Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Wirral) can access up to 70% funding towards training costs across a range of areas, including Business Management and Finance, Health and Social Care, Digital and Creative, Marketing & Sales and Physical & Mental Health. This offer is further enhanced by some fully funded provision in areas such as Leadership & Management, Business Language Skills, Import/Export, Soft Support Skills & IT.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN THE FULLY FUNDED TRAINING FUND
Speak to Be More’s team of dedicated Skills Brokers
Be More’s team of impartial Skills Brokers can help you to access funding, local grants and government incentive schemes to help up-skill or re-skill your employees. We can also support you to recruit new apprentices as well as identifying apprenticeship routes for existing employees.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN THE BE MORE TRAINING FUND
Be More: Bridging the skills gap in Liverpool City Region
Unemployment and inactivity are two of the biggest economic and social issues facing the UK, with national statistics highlighting that 11.3% of people aged 16-24 are currently unemployed.
This compares with a figure from the latest data of 10.1% for the Liverpool City Region; with a population of around 1.5 million, this accounts for roughly 10,000 people in the same age bracket.
These figures certainly point to a skills gap both across the country and in our region. But alongside this, many people currently in employment are lacking the skills necessary to take the next steps to progress in their careers. Therefore, upskilling both those in and out of employment is paramount to the economic prosperity of LCR.
What is the skills gap, which skills are people lacking and which industries need help?
The skills gap refers to a fundamental disconnect between the skills that employers require from their employees and the skills that jobseekers possess. In LCR, there are various basic employability skills that people are not developing which are widening this gap.
These skills include literacy, numeracy, written and verbal communication, and digital proficiency – including the use of basic software and programmes. These skills are vital in order to thrive in the workplace, as well as being an essential building block of everyday life.
In LCR, there are five main job roles which currently possess a high demand for upskilled workers – these are nurses, social care workers, HGV drivers, warehouse workers, and customer service advisors. However, the skills gap exists on a much broader scale and the need to upskill the workforce will benefit both employers and employees in almost every sector.
What can we do to bridge the skills gap in LCR?
Getting people into apprenticeships across the region is an important part of bridging the existing skills gap, allowing people to learn on the job and develop new skills. Apprenticeships and practical courses provide highly relevant learning opportunities to those who undertake them, as well as equipping businesses with strong workforces to enable LCR to thrive.
An apprenticeship is a job with training which provides valuable and transferrable skills and knowledge, helping individuals to develop their chosen career. Compared to more traditional routes, such as further and higher education, apprenticeships provide real workplace experience, the opportunity to develop communication and life skills, and the chance to ‘earn while you learn’.
As well as equipping people with the skills and qualifications they need to pursue a career in their chosen field, apprenticeships offer considerable value to employers.
According to government statistics, 74% of employers say that apprentices improve product and service quality, and 78% report improved productivity across the board, demonstrating the mutually beneficial relationship between apprentices and employers.
As a skills portal connecting employers and employees with learning and development opportunities, Be More is actively working to remedy the skills gap in LCR, providing businesses with opportunities to upskill, grow talent and develop the most qualified workforce possible.
From March to September, LCR-based employers will also be able to access a wide range of fully funded courses. These courses are drawn from four key areas that have been identified by LCR businesses as particular skills requirements for their workforces: Basic Business Skills, Soft Support Skills, Leadership & Management & Hospitality.
With so many options for developing your team, it can be hard to know where to start. Our Skills Brokers can help you with that too – identifying the most appropriate avenues for you to pursue. Skills Brokers work with employers in all sectors across LCR to help plug skills gaps and to identify funding routes, as well as local providers who can deliver the training they require.
Be More funding can be used to support bespoke training as well as qualifications that cannot be funded through any other funding route. Skills Brokers, therefore, understand the skills landscape at both a funding and delivery level.
What are the benefits of investing in your existing workforce?
By upskilling current staff, overall productivity is positively impacted and the quality of the work produced by employees increases due to the broadening of knowledge. Learning and development in the workplace is also of great value in terms of knowledge sharing, allowing employees to cascade learnings to their colleagues, benefiting whole departments or indeed organisations.
Giving existing employees access to learning and development opportunities is a powerful way for employers to invest in their teams, because when employees progress, this has a material impact on the success of the business as a whole.
To find out more about Be More, its Skills Brokerage Service and the funding available to businesses, please visit: https://be-more.info/training
For further information, including a selection of introductory videos and case studies, visit the Be More website HERE.
Be More is funded by the European Social Fund and the Strategic Investment Fund.