57
PRO INSTALLER OCTOBER 2013
PRO BUSINESS
@proinstaller1
NEW FUNDING
FOR TRAINEESHIP
SCHEME
ANNOUNCED
An extra £20m is being made available to the government’s new Traineeships programme to support even
more young people into Apprenticeships and other jobs.
The additional funding was announced
as Skills Minister Matthew Hancock travelled to Nottingham to meet young people
already taking part in the scheme.
Traineeships, which began in August,
provide 16 to 23-year-olds with the skills,
experience and confidence to compete in
the labour market – helping them secure
Apprenticeships or other jobs.
More than 500 providers have pledged to
take on trainees this year and so far 150
companies, both large and small, have all
expressed an interest in offering placements
to young people.
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said:
“Traineeships give young people the helping hand they need to compete for Apprenticeships and other jobs.
“The programme is off to an excellent start
with strong backing from employers and
training providers.
“We have responded to this demand by
providing additional investment and in
time traineeships will become the clear
route for young people looking to get the
crucial grounding they need in the world of
work.”
Traineeships are part of the government’s
wider aim to ensure the future workforce
possess the skills employers want in their
employees.
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For more information http://www.
apprenticeships.org.uk/employers/
traineeships.aspx
Skills Shortage Problem
Is Unique To UK
UK small and medium sized enterprises
(SMEs) have identified a lack of access
to growth capital and
skills shortages as
factors affecting their
businesses.
According to research
complied by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA
(Institute of Management
Accountants), which found
that compared to SME’s in
other markets, concerns
about skills shortages were
expressed almost entirely by
those in the UK, with 15%
of UK respondents highlighting the issue.
Cash-flow problems
were also flagged up by
the UK’s SMEs, who were
almost twice as likely to cite
securing late payment as a
problem than larger business. Despite SMEs across
the globe reporting greater
access to growth capital,
small businesses in the UK
did not see much improvement.
Rosana Mirkovic, ACCA’s head of SME Policy,
said: “Our global analysis
revealed trends that are very
specific to the UK SMEs,
most notably a skills shortage. Fifteen per cent doesn’t
sound like much, but the
fact is it barely registered
as a problem with the
small business communities
elsewhere in the world. It is
unique to the UK.
‘right now they
are facing
obstacles that
their overseas
counterparts
are not’
“We keep hearing that
same old cliché about SMEs
being the lifeblood of the
UK economy, but right now
they are facing obstacles
that their overseas counterparts are not. In the
USA, for example, access to
growth capital has increased
considerably over the last
21 months. That’s not the
case in the UK.”
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