Skills and training

Whether it's accrediting a highly-skilled employee or learning to handle the business accounts, skills and training are an important part of any business.

But training schemes and providers aren't always business-friendly, with prohibitive costs or requiring valuable time off work, and with so many different standards and qualifications out there, how can businesses figure out which ones are worth their time and money?

Our position

We believe that skills and training should be readily available for those small businesses who need them.

Higher education bodies, community learning centres and professionals need to engage more with the business community, providing solutions that are tailored to small businesses. This means smaller, targeted courses to help keep time spent out of the office to a minimum. It means real training to deal with real problems, not just qualifications for the sake of a certificate.

We sit on the Advisory Board for the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI) to help make sure that the right skills and training are being offered to entrepreneurs and small businesses. SFEDI sets the standards for business support and encourages best practice among training providers and business support bodies.

Latest developments

April 2009 – Peter Mandelson launched his vision for Britain's economy in his paper entitled ‘New Industry, New Jobs'. In it, he focused on green and information technology as a route out of the recession. He recognized that skills and training will need further support as more small businesses get involved in those sectors.
The Government announced an additional £140 million to deliver around 35,000 new apprenticeships next year. We support additional funds for small businesses taking on apprentices.

Latest research

Small Business Skills Survey Report (Aug 2008) - click here to download the results.