Residents looking to retrain into careers with job opportunities and skills gaps are being given the opportunity to sign up to free courses aimed at boosting their job prospects.
Cornwall Council and Devon County Council have been awarded £1.8 million funding from the Department for Education’s National Skills Fund to run a third year of Skills Bootcamps.
The Train4Tomorrow Skills Bootcamps are flexible courses lasting up to 16 weeks, offering adults the opportunity to retrain into in-demand job roles in emerging and growth sectors, including Green and Construction, healthcare, professional services and creative industries.
The bootcamps are designed alongside employers, to ensure people are developing industry skills that meet current recruitment needs, with learners guaranteed an interview at the end of their training.
The bootcamps will run from July 2022 until March 2023, with learners supported to secure employment after their training has been completed.
Part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, the Skills Bootcamps are offered free of charge to individuals looking to advance their skills into higher paid employment, and are open to people who are unemployed, self-employed, or returning to work.
Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council cabinet member for economy, said; “Recruitment difficulties and skills gaps are acute in some of our key sectors and more jobs in the future will require higher level skills. This funding gives us the opportunity to ensure people are developing industry skills that meet current recruitment needs now and in the future.”
Cornwall College and Truro & Penwith College delivered technical and digital bootcamps during Wave 2 with Wave 3 now including Skills Bootcamps for Green and Construction job roles, alongside opportunities for those looking to move into Healthcare, Professional Services and Creative Industry. The wide range of Skills Bootcamps are designed to help adults move into new careers, in industries that have open vacancies.
Barbara Ellenbroek, Cornwall Council cabinet member for children and families, said: “Bootcamps offer a new flexible approach to upskilling and retraining which is key to giving families with caring responsibilities the opportunity to change their career or get back into work. There is such a wide range of courses available through Bootcamps and our FE provision and the shorter nature of these courses is perfect for people who have typically struggled with traditional training routes, there is something for everyone.”
Employers can not only benefit from the opportunity to recruit highly skilled individuals to fill vacancies, but also to develop the skills of their existing employees. There is a small cost for employers wishing to train their own staff, SMEs contribute 10% of the course costs, and large employers contribute 30% towards the training costs.