Redundancy Response Fund

A portion of the Higher Level Skills Partnership (HLSP) was redesigned to address the needs of the economic downturn. The HLSP has ringfenced £400,000 of development funding to establish the HLSP Redundancy Response Fund. The fund has been used to commission the development of responsive CPD provision to meet the needs of those at risk of redundancy; those who have been recently made redundant; and new graduates unable to find employment.

For further information on the HLSP Redundancy Response Fund, please contact Rebecca Ward on rward@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0439.

Projects

Manchester Metropolitan University
Advanced Skills for Advanced Materials (Level 6)
A wide range of Advanced Flexible Materials (AFM) companies in the North West need to update some of their business practices in order to survive and grow. Advanced Skills for Advanced Materials (Level 6), a collaboration between Manchester Metropolitan University and NWTexnet, will offer companies the opportunity to change their business practices using a mechanism which is validated and delivered by experienced partners.

The project will target companies on the threshold of contraction and needing a lifeline.

The project will cover a variety of business issues, such as recruiting and retaining the right members of staff, as well as succession planning business strategies to drive profitability and growth and new product implementation.

For more information on this project, please contact Karen Lang on klang@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0438.


University of Central Lancashire
Constructing Solutions for the Low Carbon Economy
This project will focus on the development of a series of dynamic workshops to enhance the professional development and employment opportunities of personnel employed in engineering construction, focusing on the low carbon economy. Input will be received from all the relevant sectors of the industry to inform the development of the workshops.

The training will relate to the North West’s subject priorities, as identified by SummitSkills. Delivery will take into account the most relevant way of communicating information to the cohort identified. Topics covered will consider the industrial, commercial and domestic markets and enable employees to up-skill in a key growth sector.

For more information on this project, please contact Samantha Blachford, on sblachford@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 8892.

University of Manchester
Masters Level CPD to provide graduate level skills in digital print design and technology
The project aims to establish the leading skills centre and provision in Digital Inkjet Textile Printing. An industrial skills gap has been identified as a priority and is currently hampering the growth of the sector, particularly in the current economic climate. There is a labour market need for re-skilling the current workforce which faces potential redundancy in a fast-evolving industry and up-skill graduates. Manchester University will collaborate with industry to provide a Masters level Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme allowing Textile and non-Textile graduates to enhance their skills and support the strategically important Creative and Technical Digital Print Textiles sector.

For more information on this project, please contact Rebecca Ward on rward@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0439.


University of Central Lancashire
Engineering Conversion and Workforce Proficiency for Operation Management in the Energy Sector
This project will entail the development of Continuing Professional Development modules to allow engineers to develop technical skills required for the role of operations and design management in the energy sector.

It is envisaged that the engineers undertaking the training will include those progressing from blue collar to white collar positions, as well as those engineers presently in operations management roles who will develop further competence in the field. The modules will also be open to graduates who wish to improve and develop their employability by studying specialist technical skills.

The provision will primarily target renewable sector engineer staff, engineering graduates and those engineers in vulnerable sectors, however, the modules will also be targeted at employees in the automotive sector and ex-armed forces personnel who want to re-skill into a key growth sector. The overall aim of the project is to expand the recruitment pool and the competence of present and potential staff to meet the needs of the renewable energy sector.

For more information on this project, please contact Elizabeth Underhill on eunderhill@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0431.


University of Manchester
CPD in Smart Metering and Smart Grids
This project will deliver the materials for an integrated series of CPD modules centred in topics related to communications and networking for Smart Metering and Smart Grids. The modules will be designed to satisfy the initial training requirements of graduate engineers with varying backgrounds who wish to specialise in smart metering and smart grid technologies. A range of employers in this field expressed a need for training of this sort. Once the modules are operational and are providing high quality CPD, they will also be used as part of the M.Sc. programmes in the school of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The CPD units will provide opportunity for up-skilling and re-skilling from electrical, computer and IT engineering sectors to Smart Grids and Smart Metering.

For more information on this project, please contact Elizabeth Underhill on eunderhill@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0431.


University of Bolton
Knowledge, Innovation and Technology Enhancement for Leaders
This project will develop Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes for senior managers within the Northwest aerospace and other manufacturing industries. The programmes are aimed at developing skills in Innovation, Knowledge and Change Management in order to make companies more competitive through the development of innovative products and services for newer market areas. Knowledge Management is a young discipline for managing the creation, collection, and dissemination of knowledge in organizations. Innovation Management is aimed at the creation of innovative products and services and bringing them to market. It involves forming organizational structures and systems that encourage creative solutions to difficult problems, and developing these innovations into economically feasible applications. Innovation Management helps organisations initiate and manage change and, in so doing, help to protect jobs and create new employment opportunities. These topics will be presented to senior managers through workshops which will involve their own problems and which will lead to credits being awarded, initially leading to a Postgraduate certificate and ultimately an MBA.

For more information on this project, please contact Rebecca Ward on rward@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0439.


University of Bolton / unionlearn
Enhanced Skills Development to Support Employment
The project partners, the University of Bolton and unionlearn, will target and provide support for those individuals facing redundancy as a result of the current recession. Learners will be identified by Unionlearn with provision developed by the University of Bolton. Provision will be bespoke but could, for example, include workshops on setting up in business, health and safety awareness and sector specific workshops such as multi media and website development and CAD training. This support will meet the needs of the individuals concerned by comprising:

• an audit of their existing personal and professional skills
• an identification of areas of potential re-deployment within their existing sector or in other sectors
• personal development planning to identify immediate skills gaps
• the provision of workshops, short courses and professional development modules – both accredited and non-accredited to meet individual development needs

The delivery of the learning will be funded with the support of the University’s own ECIF project funding and so will be free to the participants. The project will link to the redundancy support services currently provided by Jobcentre Plus and Next Step. For more information on this project, please contact Rebecca Ward on rward@nwua.ac.uk or 0161 234 0439.

The Commissioning Panel for the Redundancy Response Fund is comprised of the following members:

Panel Members Organisation Owen Boxx Skills and Employment Team, NWDA Celia Brigg NWUADirector (Skills), NWUA Colin Daniels Chief executive, Warrington Chambers of Commerce Donna Edwards Operations Director, Business Link North West Dave Eva Regional Manager, unionlearn Sue Kilroy Regional Employer Engagement Manager, JobCentre Plus Alan Manning Regional Secretary, TUC Sarah Mcloughlin North West Alliance Manager, NW SSC Alliance Debbie Corcoran Skills Funding Agency Rebecca Ward Specialist Advisor, NWUA