Funding opportunities for businesses through the LEP Skills Service

Funding opportunities for businesses through the LEP Skills Service We are pleased to confirm that ABL Business Ltd is registered to deliver training for the LEP skills service. Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has launched a service that provides skills support to small and medium sized businesses. The LEP skills service helps businesses to identify their skills needs based on their business growth objectives and then find the right training solution. Small and medium sized business based in the Leeds City Region (includes Leeds, Wakefield, Barnsley, York, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Harrogate, Selby and Craven) that have a budget to put towards training could be eligible for funding of between £500 and £50,000. To find out more about the LEP skills service and apply, visit: www.the-lep.com/skillsservice The types of training courses that could be eligible for the Skills Fund are:

• Leadership and Management
• Customer Care
• Coaching and Mentoring
• Innovation and creativity assessment and development
• Conducting Appraisals successfully
• Making Professional Presentations
• Business Strategy Planning and Implementation

Please note that all skills service applications are subject to approval panels and are assessed on a case by case basis. To find out more about the above training courses, please contact Alex Beardsley at alex@abl-business.co.uk or call 0333 003 7685. Background on LEP Skills Service The skills service is delivered by a consortium on behalf of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership and has been partly supported by HM Government with Employer Ownership funding. Calderdale College has been successful in securing the contract to act as the accountable body to deliver skills support for small and medium sized businesses on behalf of the LEP in partnership with Leeds City College, West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Funding of between £500 and £50,000 is available through the LEP skills service for eligible businesses within the LEP priority sectors. These are:

• Manufacturing & Engineering
• Low Carbon/Environmental Technologies and Construction
• Creative and Digital
• Finance and Business
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Medical Technology
• Transport & Logistics

The skills service will provide support to help small and medium sized businesses to achieve their growth ambitions. Our expert LEP skills team will support employers by:

• offering a comprehensive skills assessment
• sourcing the most appropriate training
• enabling eligible businesses to access funding
• identifying additional sources of available funding
• providing full guidance throughout the entire process

The programme will operate until 31st March 2017, with targets to support 3,000 businesses to up skill over 17,000 staff through £13.9m of co-funded training. The support provided is employer driven, offering specialist skills solutions and a cost effective means of packaging these. Employers will access the support through the LEP skills service portal or by phone and will be signposted to registered training providers.