BEST SKILLS PAY CERTIFICATES FIRST CANDIDATES

Skills Pay, Building Engineering Services Training’s (BEST) Train to Gain scheme, has seen its first group of candidates complete their training and become certificated by City & Guilds for NVQ three and NVQ two Heating and Ventilating (industrial and commercial) Gas. 

Ivan Parker of Birchall Ltd, based in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Brett Mason of Daly Engineering Services Ltd, based in Coventry were awarded their NVQ level three certificates, whilst Alan Hughes, also of Birchall Ltd, obtained an NVQ level two. 

Skills Pay allows building services employers to take advantage of free or part funded training for all employees to help them achieve an NVQ level two qualification or higher. 

Christine Wright, BEST Technical and Qualifications Manager explains the importance of the scheme stating; “Having a carded workforce can mean the difference between winning and losing a contract.  Obtaining a SkillsCard requires employees to be qualified to at least NVQ level two and in the case of Electrical Installation NVQ level three.  By taking just a little bit of time to provide these qualifications to the workforce, an employer shows both commitment to the individual’s development and to raising the profile of skills standards in the industry. 

The Skills Pay scheme funding enables employers to up-skill employees to the industries minimum requirements.  There is therefore no better time for a company to show its commitment to its employees and for employees to assist in winning those valuable contracts.”

Steven Robbins, one of BEST’s Skills Pay assessors, commented “Ivan, Brett and Alan are all proof that working behind the scenes in many companies there are plenty of employees who already have the skills to do the job and with a little guidance can quickly achieve NVQ level two or three qualifications.

“Take Ivan and Brett as examples, when I visited them on-site to assess competence, they produced excellent evidence of accredited prior learning (APL).  In-fact, I often find that experienced workers, with no formal qualifications, actually shine out on-site in both work and attitude.  It was easy to see that they would quickly manage to complete the remaining elements of portfolio evidence to enable them to achieve.”

These first candidates and their companies applied for Skills Pay funding in August 2008, and following an initial interview to establish work currently being undertaken and the qualification level that could then be aimed for, all were accepted for full funding.  Steven Robbins provided information, advice and guidance to each candidate at the interview stage to prepare them for his on-site assessments.

Employers and employees can access the scheme anywhere in the country by contacting BEST, which will, in the first instance, carry out an initial interview and assessment of eligibility and training need. This involves benchmarking current performance and skills levels against the industry standards to identify realistic targets. All assessment is carried out by industry qualified and experienced assessors. For more information: email TraintoGain@best-ltd.co.uk or call, 0800 917 8419.

Editor’s notes:

Training is geared towards the attainment of an appropriate NVQ - level two, three or four - specific to the needs of individuals. There is no limit to the types of qualifications and associated training disciplines that cover the full range of HVACR/Plumbing/Electrical crafts and industry specific Leadership and Management qualifications, including Team Leader/Supervisor and First Line Manager.

All qualifications are recognised under the Sector Skills Card and Competent Persons Schemes, providing a fast track route to achieving these standards. The mandatory requirements for a Site Skills carded workforce is now beginning to impact on most large sites and has been taken up by the major house builders; this in itself becomes a very powerful driver and, hence, benefit.

Specialist training may be introduced as part of a qualification framework to include sustainability and renewable energy technologies – a national programme such as this may well serve as a driver for the wider access to such courses.