Employers and individuals in the Liverpool city region will be able to access Skills Bootcamps that will offer new skills across a number of sectors in an £8.1m project. Tony McDonough reports
A new £8.1m project will see companies and individuals across Liverpool city region offered access to Skills Bootcamps.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has secured the cash from the Department for Education after a successful two-year digital skills pilot. Now the bootcamps will provide training in construction, digital, engineering, green skills, HGV driving, and rail.
Thousands of people in Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens and Halton are expected to benefit from the free courses, which are intended to raise skill levels in key sectors, enabling eligible adults to move into more sustainable roles.
They last up to 16-weeks and will provide training with content at Level 3 standard or above. The scheme will help employers who wish to retrain their existing staff in order to develop new business or retain staff.
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It will also offer opportunities to individuals who are self-employed, and also any adult employed or unemployed, who is looking to gain new skills to enable them to progress. Everyone who undertakes the training will be offered an interview with an employer.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Talking to business leaders in our city region, it’s abundantly clear that across every sector, there is a real hunger to recruit skilled, local workers.
“Through the good work we have been able to do with our devolved powers over skills, we’ve been able to secure more money from the Government to give more of our residents the skills they need to get on.
“We want to create a region of highly-skilled, highly-employable workers, with a strong focus on those looking for a new challenge, a fresh start or a chance to return to the workforce.
Liverpool City Region was one of only six areas nationally to pilot Skills Bootcamps in digital back in September 2020, aimed at helping participants gain jobs in the digital sector, and went on to run a further round of digital Skills Bootcamps in 2021.
To date almost 700 people – a combination of unemployed, self-employed, and employed – have completed a digital Skills Bootcamp. Their progress will be monitored over the coming months.