Control over WorldSkills UK and the Skills Show has been pulled together under a single organisation.
Find a Future, which will be funded by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), the European Social Fund, and commercial sponsorship, was launched today (April 1).
The not-for-profit organisation has taken control of WorldSkills UK from the SFA and the annual Skills Show from UK Skills.
It will also take over the Skills Show Experience — an extension of the national Skills Show which stages local competitions across the country — from UK Skills.
Ross Maloney, chief executive of Find a Future, said: “Find a Future is the perfect opportunity for us to integrate three highly successful products and enhance their offering to our end users — young people — while adding real value to individuals’ lives and the future economic prosperity of our nation.”
WorldSkills UK selects the national team to compete in the prestigious international skills competition — which was last held in London in 2011 and will take in Sao Paulo, Brazil, next year.
It was run by not-for-profit organisation UK Skills, in partnership with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), until the SFA took complete control in 2010.
UK Skills was instead given responsibility for the Skills Show, which attracts more than 75,000 visitors a year to the NEC Birmingham and was launched in 2012, and the Skills Show Experience.
UK Skills has effectively now been transformed into Find a Future and assumed control over all three.
Mr Maloney added: “The [three] products have many synergies and shared ambitions, and by bringing them together, we are confident that we can achieve greater impact and reinforce the importance of valuing and celebrating further education, skills and apprenticeships.
“By combining our resources, Find a Future will ensure that employers have direct access to the diversity of talent which they need, to enable their businesses to flourish and our nation to prosper.”
The SFA confirmed its executive director for funding and programmes Keith Smith will continue as the UK’s official delegate for WorldSkills.
Visit www.findafuture.org.uk to find out more about the new organisation.
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