Serco scheme offers free upskilling to furloughed employees

Leading public service provider Serco Group is encouraging businesses to enrol furloughed employees on to their upskilling programme, Skills Support the Workforce.

Skills Support the Workforce (SSW) is a government training programme, financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), that helps small and medium-sized businesses to upskill their employees through access to training courses and additional qualifications.

Due to many employees still being on furlough, and possibly experiencing detachment from their teams and job roles, accessible training could be a helpful resource for those wishing to grow their businesses and improve their profitability, while also investing in their employees ' personal development.

Working in partnership with 15 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the programme provides qualifications in IT, leadership and management, engineering, manufacturing, construction, health and social care, customer service, business administration and more.

It is also delivered across 16 regions in England, including Greater Birmingham and Solihull and the Black Country.

Businesses can work with Serco to develop a training programme tailored to their business and employee needs, at no additional cost.

Since the programme started in 2016, over 62,000 people have benefitted from the chance to upskill and develop their learning.

To find out more about the Skills Support for the Workforce programme click here.