Is your business facing the prospect of making hard decisions about staff redundancy?
As insolvency practitioners, we are now seeing increasing levels of enquiries from businesses who are facing financial difficulties due to the long struggle caused by Covid-19.
Sometimes, when insolvency strikes, liquidation is the only option; in other cases, insolvency procedures that involve restructuring, such as Administrations and Company Voluntary Arrangements can save businesses and turn their fortunes around. However, in all cases, the prospect of having to make hard decisions about staff redundancy looms, and that is the human cost of redundancy. There is, however, funded training to support individuals and businesses in this situation. We are grateful, therefore, to Rachel Crossey, Performance Manager at Serco UK & Europe* and Skills Support for Redundancy Programme (SSR) Partnership Coordinator, and Jon Baglow from Poole based Locomotivation, representing Skills Support for Redundancy (SSR) for the information in this article.
What is the Skills Support for Redundancy Programme?
The Skills Support for Redundancy programme (SSR) can provide your company with funded support, which will ensure your employees get access to bespoke training to support them to find suitable employment or their next career if they are made redundant.
A wide range of training is on offer through SSR’s network of expert training providers including:
- IT and digital skills
- Business administration
- Customer service
- Team leading and project management
- Health and social care
- Warehousing and storage
- Communication
- Starting your own business
Rachel Crossey says:
“SSR is a tailored service to meet employees/your needs. I can work with you to help you to understand the support on offer and can help you to identify any training needs of your employees. I can then help to match those training needs with one of our local training providers who can put a bespoke training programme together with them. The training can be funded through our SSR programme.” (Subject to eligibility.)
The Skills Support for Redundancy programme is co-financed by the Education & Skills funding Agency and the European Social Fund, so support can be accessed at no cost to the business or individual.
To find out more about how the Skills Support for Redundancy programme, visit the website: www.serco.com/ssr or email: skillssupport@serco.com . *Serco delivers the SSR programme in the following LEP regions in England:
- West of England
- Somerset
- Devon
- Dorset
Locomotivation is one of the training providers that delivers the SSR programme in Dorset and Somerset, again co-funded by the European Social Fund and the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Locomotivation Account Manager, Jon Baglow says:
“The programme offers fully funded redundancy/back to work courses for those at risk of redundancy, or those that have been made redundant within the last 3-months, including CV writing, interview techniques and skills training.The training is flexible to meet the employer and learner needs and it is a fantastic opportunity to learn and develop your skills and knowledge.”
In other areas where there are Antony Batty offices, the following contacts might be able to help with similar programmes:
- London – London LEP – Skills and Employment | The Local Enterprise Partnership for London (lep.london)
- Brentwood – South East LEP – TWIN TRAINING INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Employee training and free recruitment | Twin Employment and Training
- Croydon – Coast to Capital LEP – Skills Training UK – Apprenticeships Training Provider | Skills Training UK
- Reading – Thames Valley Berkshire LEP – Additional Berkshire Skills Projects (thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk)
- Abingdon – Oxfordshire LEP – https://www.oxfordshirelep.com/skills/our-programmes/skills-business
If your business is facing insolvency, the sooner you talk to us, the more we can do to help. And if redundancies are involved then that is where Rachel at Serco, or Jon at Locomotivation can help.
Contact us or call us on any of the numbers below for help and advice on insolvency, restructuring and recovery.
Also, K&W Recovery, trading as Antony Batty and Company, Thames Valley: