Nearly £9 million is up for grabs to subsidise specialist net zero courses in retrofitting and energy efficiency.

The package, worth up to £8.85 million, will “heavily” subsidise training courses for aspiring retrofit and insulation experts in England, and is funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. 

It could provide training for up to 8,000 people, according to the department, and will “develop the skills and expertise needed to retrofit homes with energy saving measures”. Training providers can apply for up to £1 million to run the courses.

As well as the costs of the training courses themselves, the fund could cover trainers’ costs, including accommodation and transport, plus any costs trainees take on including accommodation or transport.

The courses will run from this September until the end of March 2024, and comes as the government moves towards its target of reaching net zero by 2050.

Lord Callanan, minister for energy efficiency and green finance, said the fund would mean training providers can “put on the courses needed to help create the skilled workforce ready to join this rapidly-growing market, with people able to benefit from these courses at low or no cost”.

“We’re investing billions of pounds to improve energy efficiency across the country – saving households hundreds on their bills while making sure Britain’s homes are fit for the future,” he added.

“We’ve already helped millions of people to do this, but we need an army of skilled professionals able to install insulation and other energy-saving measures in homes across the country.”

The providers will need to show that there is demand for the courses in their area, either by providing minutes of meeting with local providers or job centres or evidence of enquires for the courses. They will also need to prove a track record of delivering courses in construction, energy efficiency or energy assessment.

Teaching could be online or in person.

Most of the courses provided via the funding will focus on insulation in homes, with plans to fund around 5,000 training packages. The rest will focus on retrofit work.

Though the department is funding the project, it is being led by the Midlands Net Zero Hub, which will visit all the training centres to make sure the right courses are being led with the right accreditation, and will also attend the online courses. 

The hub will have the power to remove the funding if the providers do not perform, though it will first offer “supportive steps” to providers that are struggling.

Providers will be able to apply to the fund from Friday 28 July by completing a form available here, which should be sent to HDTrainingCompetition@nottinghamcity.gov.uk. They have until 25 August to submit their bids.

Employees at Skills Training UK have described feeling “broken” as bosses confirm they will only be paid for seven days this month.

This comes on the day the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has demanded that ministers take urgent action to prevent “total collapse” of the training system in the wake of multiple providers exiting the publicly funded training sector.

Skills Training UK is not yet officially in liquidation, but staff were told on Friday not to come back to work.

In an update today, seen by FE Week, staff were told that managers were unsuccessful in obtaining an overdraft to cover July’s payroll in full. Only a partial payment was granted meaning staff will only be paid for seven days this month. This reduced payment will still be subject to deduction like tax and pension contributions.

While they wait for the appointment of a liquidator, employees can’t make a claim for unpaid wages, notice pay or redundancy pay. Meanwhile, staff are also worried learners could miss out on getting their qualifications this August as they’re not at work to liaise with awarding organisations.

Stunned staff, some in tears, told FE Week they had been “left drowning” and out of the loop at a time when living costs are spiralling and after they have worked at the provider for years.

“We’re just broken, some of us have children and mortgages, it’s completely crazy. Management went completely quiet on us.”

More than 200 staff members will be made redundant if the provider does go under. In an update issued on its website, Skills Training UK said it expects to appoint liquidators on August 2, and that all delivery to all learners has stopped. 

There are also concerns that learners will not receive the qualifications they were studying for, as staff have been locked out of their computers and systems and are not able to communicate with the learners or awarding organisations such as Pearson. As emails were shut down, staff could not tell learners that the provider is about to shut its doors.

“They’ve abandoned them,” one staff member said. “Some of the learners that I started working with a year ago have behavioural issues, and now they are going to get nothing after a year’s work. And there’s no one to be held accountable.”

Skills Training UK declined to comment.

AELP has meanwhile warned the sector “risks total collapse” thanks to a “perfect storm” of rising costs, reduced adult education budget (AEB) contracts, the end to the traineeship programme last year and real-terms cuts to apprenticeship funding bands. 

It has called for an across-the-board uplift of 10 per cent in funding for all apprenticeship standards and a minimum government spend of £5,000 per year across all apprenticeships to keep apprenticeship providers afloat, alongside an increase to the maximum contribution above the current £27,000.

Nichola Hay, chair of AELP, warned any collapse of the skills system would “have a huge impact on learners and employers, as providers withdraw from the market and their choice is drastically reduced”. 

“At a time where skills are vital in our country’s plan for growth and stability, we need a quick government response to save the skills sector, including an immediate 10 per cent across the board rise in funding for all apprenticeship standards, alongside a long-term plan to stabilise the skills system,” she added. A national skills strategy would help to stabilise the sector by “identifying and properly funding the country’s skills needs.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it was “committed” to supporting high-quality delivery of apprenticeships across all levels and sectors of the economy.

“Over the last year we have reviewed the funding of more than 50 standards, with 75 per cent receiving an increase of around 20 per cent,” they added. They also highlighted a plan to introduce immediate funding increases to ten apprenticeship standards, which they announced last month.

Earlier this month, Skills Training UK was one of several big-name training providers that missed out on a national adult education budget (AEB) contract in the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s most recent procurement. The provider does though hold a devolved contract in London worth £525,000, and other devolved contracts in South Yorkshire.

It also scooped spots on three lots of the DfE’s bootcamps contracts which were tendered out last September.

---

FE Week updated this article with a statement released on Skills Training UK’s website regarding the expected appointment of liquidators, which was issued on July 25.

Skills Training UK then appointed Matthew Roe and Richard Hawes as joint liquidators from Teneo Financial Advisory on August 3.

The liquidators said they are are “assisting former employees of Skills Training UK Limited to claim any entitlements available from the redundancy payment service”.