Partner Article

Support for North East workers facing redundancy

North East employers with staff facing the threat of redundancy are being given the chance to access a pot of funding to equip their workers with skills needed to stay in work or make it easier for them to find alternative employment.

The Train to Gain Redundancy Support Fund, funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) North East, provides job related training for anyone at risk of being made redundant to help them get another job.

Thanks to support from the £8 million fund, Northumberland based company The Shark Group was able to help the majority of its staff into work after it was announced that the company was closing, leaving all 28 employees facing a bleak future.

All the staff were able to benefit from a two week training programme, and now some 19 individuals are in work with most of the others considering self employment.

Jane Nolan MBE, the company’s Managing Director, said: “When the announcement was made that the company was closing and everyone was to lose their jobs, the outlook was very bleak.

“Because our business was so specialised, many felt that they couldn’t possibly fit in anywhere else. What the training enabled people to do was prove to them that the skills they had were transferable and help them present themselves to prospective employers.”

Dorothy Smith, interim regional director, LSC North East, said: “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.

“The experience of the Shark Group shows that intensive, job focused training can really benefit individuals and help them find work.”

For more information about Train to Gain, go to www.traintogain.gov.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .