Weston College has won a contract to provide workplace training that meets the needs of individuals, employers and the region.

The College will deliver Skills Support for the Workforce (SSW) and Skills Support for Redundancy (SSR) programmes across the West of England until April 2021.

The contract was awarded by Serco, which operates SSW in partnership with a network of high-quality training providers.

SSW supports people who are 16 or over and either employed or self-employed. It provides small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) with the skills required to grow their business.

The initiative is focused on training employees for the following sectors:

• Advanced engineering and aerospace
• Construction
• Creative and digital
• Distribution
• Health and life sciences
• High-tech
• Low carbon
• Professional and financial services
• Retail
• Rural and food economy
• Visitor economy.

Businesses that offer SSW to employees receive a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to help identify the skills needed to help them grow and innovate. A flexible training packages is then developed, with training taking place in the classroom, workplace and online.

SSR is designed to support individuals affected by redundancy. It provides free training for employees facing redundancy or those that are redundant to help them gain new skills, rebuild their careers or even start their own business.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “We are delighted to deliver Skills Support for the Workforce, and Skills Support for Redundancy in the West of England.

“At Weston College, our mission is to create brighter futures creating brighter futures, and by offering this type of training to SMEs across the region, we will certainly be achieving that.”

SSW and SSR, are co-funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and the European Social Fund.