Training & Skills

Train to Gain

You've probably seen the Train to Gain advertisements on the television: "Our future. It's in our hands".

Train to Gain - provided by the Learning and Skills Council - is a free, impartial service for businesses to find the right training solutions for themselves and their staff.

Train to Gain advisors, called skills brokers, visit at your workplace to help you:

• Identify your training needs
• Find a training provider
• Access funding
• Ensure the training is delivered to meet your needs

Why use a Train to Gain skills broker?

Train to Gain was set up because research showed that levels of literacy, numeracy and severe shortages of skills in many industries are seriously harming Britain's competitiveness. Lack of skill and knowledge, and a poor approach to customer service, is holding businesses back, and many businesses are not growing, or being as profitable, as they should be.

At the same time, how do you know what you don't know? Identifying what's holding you back, and then finding and successfully working with a provider who can meet your needs, is a complex, time consuming job. Businesses state the two main reasons for not training are lack of time and the expense.

This is where skills brokers come in. Skills brokers stay up to date with all the latest training options, know which training providers deliver the best training in each sector and know what grants are currently available to whom. In addition, they are fully trained to help you analyse your business, work out where you want to go and decide what additional skills and training you and your staff need to get there.

Better productivity, more competitiveness, more profit

All the research shows that there is a direct link between raising skills and increasing profitability. Skilled staff are more confident and more content. They get through more work in a day. They give better customer service. They feedback invaluable information and ideas to management. They stay longer with an organisation, reducing the costs of recruitment, induction and training.

A better future for your employees

As well as the returns for your business, what about the benefits for your employees? Full time workers spend more daytime hours with you at work than they do with their partners and children. Every one has the right to feel that they are productive, doing a good job and making a difference with their working hours. Offering training and development opportunities helps employees raise their skills, develop their potential and improve their prospects so that they can approach their working day with confidence and satisfaction.

More measures for smaller businesses

From January 2009, more flexible measures were introduced to simplify and improve the Train to Gain service for smaller businesses, and to provide real help for businesses during this current economic crisis.  Find out about the new measures by clicking here.

Find out more

You can find out more by:

• Visiting the Train to gain website at www.traintogain.gov.uk
• Call Train to Gain on 0800 015 55 45
• Contact a Business Link North East skills broker