£17.8m allocated across England, Scotland and Wales
CITB has announced its biggest ever funding commission – the £17.8 million On Site Experience Fund which would be allocated across hubs spanning England, Scotland and Wales.
The 3 year funding will help to develop a site ready workforce that is able to meet the urgent demand for skilled labour and deliver a rich stream of local talent to the sector – targeting over 50% being sourced through non-traditional entry routes and from under-represented groups.
KPIs of the fund include:
- 10,000 candidates to benefit from receiving onsite experience
- 7,300 of these candidates will go on to become employment and ‘site ready’
- 50% of these candidates will go on to secure employment within the industry
Procure Plus have been awarded the commission in Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales and aim to:
- Develop training hubs in all locations
- Deliver entry pathways for those not currently working in construction
- Create pathways for career switchers and those under-represented in the construction industry
We will also provide access to a variety of training programmes, all of which will be employer led and directly related to available opportunities. These may include:
- H&S level 1
- CSCS (for general construction)
- COTS (for scaffolding)
- PTS (for railways)
- Streetworks
- Employability skills training
- Self-employment skills training
Our Regional Hubs
Working with reputed training providers and local employability group partners throughout the regions, our approach will be 2-fold. Where experience is lacking, employers are seeking candidates with ‘qualities, not qualifications’ and so nontrade training including personal branding, communication and personal presentation skills will be delivered in community locations. Further wrap-around support in these settings may include “better off back to work” calculations to ensure a candidate understands the financial implications of gaining employment aswell as additional interventions required to assist a candidate in overcoming any personal barriers. Trade training will be delivered both in community and in state-of-the-art
training facilities and will always be blended with non-trade training to ensure the continued support of our targeted candidate groups on their pathway to gaining onsite experience. Employers engaged will be encouraged to assist through sharing their projected labour needs in order that any training and skills need analysis can be done to ensure a candidate gains all the necessary qualifications/ training that will deem them ‘site-ready’ for actual job opportunities – further strengthening the quality of the local labour pipeline.
“Through our engagement with Procure Plus, we have one point of contact now who links us to various local employability groups who engage with the candidates we’re aiming to reach with our job opportunities. To work with one partner who can coordinate candidate referrals, put the necessary training in place and orchestrate them coming onto site through our chosen partner agencies has worked fantastically.
Social value targets have been met, candidates have secured great jobs, we’ve saved time and money and have strengthened our links to local communities in the process.”
Recruitment of Candidates
The majority of candidates will be sourced through local community groups who specialise in working with those who have experienced barriers to work. In addition LEPS and local authorities may inform partners of employers making redundancies, we will then engage, either directly or via a local community group, with those considering changing their career and looking to enter the construction industry.
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