The National Employer Training Pilot

The National Employer Training Pilot offered benefits to employers in West Yorkshire by supporting the training of adult employees in all industry sectors (excluding compulsory requirements) and across public, private and voluntary organizations, with the exception of government agencies. To be eligible, employees needed to be 20 years or over, not hold a qualification above NVQ level 2 and be a UK citizen or meet the residency requirements of the scheme. The pilot specifically targetted the need for improved Skills for Life in the adult workforce seeking to improve English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), IT competences, literacy, numeracy along with the achievement of vocational skills qualifications up to National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2 - although the programme was expanded through support2train to enable level 3 NVQs to be undertaken where the employed adult candidate was undertaking a working role at the appropriate level and provided they had established an appropriate progression in Skills for Life prior to commencement of level 3 training.

The programme covered the cost of certification and training delivery and for SMEs also provided the salary of employees during the training period. In addition to vocational training the programme included pre-funded impartial and confidential delivery of information advice and guidance (IAG) services for employed adult learners. Employers were assisted to reach informed decisions about which qualification frameworks and training approach to implement in developing their workforce.