Welsh Government provides 477% funding increase to plug skills gap

From today (12 May), individuals and businesses in Wales will benefit from an almost six-fold increase in subsidies available for accredited training opportunities.

The Welsh Government is increasing its investment in the Flexible Skills Programme from £1.3m a year to over £7.5m, enabling employees to take advantage of thousands of places on upskilling and re-skilling training courses.

The expansion aligns with the First Minister’s commitment to create a future Wales driven by jobs and green growth and follows increasing demand from Welsh employers for support to develop employees’ skills in response to changing industries and new technologies.

Grant

Skills Minister Jack Sargeant said: “Having supported over 8,000 training interventions in the last two years, I am excited about the impact a greatly expanded Flexible Skills Programme could have in the future.

“The programme’s success is down to our ambitious Welsh businesses investing in themselves to up skill their workforce. We are determined to do all we can to support their ambition and develop the skills needed for future success.

“As we prepare to host a major international investment summit in Wales later this year, the expanded scheme also strengthens our offer for companies looking to invest here.”

The expanded scheme was launched on 12 May on the first day of Learning at Work week at IQ Endosopes (IQE), a pioneering medical device startup that has seen first-hand what a difference the funding can make.

IQE is about to place its first device onto the UK market – an affordable, sterile, and sustainable endoscope solution that will enable rapid early diagnosis to help reduce patient waiting times and help people live longer and healthier lives.

The Flexible Skills Programme has enabled IQE to support over 170 individual technical or leadership and management training opportunities for its staff over the past two years.

Opportunities

Gemma Banks, HR Manager at IQE said: “Being a small company it can sometimes be hard to attract certain levels of experience and talent within the business, but we’ve been able to offer people additional training which has then meant we’ve covered a real skills gap and real need within the business at a pre-emptive time before it’s become a problem.”

Shaun O’Connell, an Engineering technician at IQE, recently completed CoSHH, ISH and Control of Hazardous Substances training through the programme and added: “The training has provided me with numerous opportunities to grow within my role and I’m now managing all the hazardous substances we use and ensuring the lab safety handbook is consistently up to date.

“It’s made the lab much safer and a more effective place to work.”

Any employer can apply for the grant which is designed to help businesses quickly respond to skills gaps with the Welsh Government paying 50% of business training costs (up to £50,000 per business per year).

There will be a particular focus on supporting key sectors and needed skills in engineering and manufacturing, digital and cyber skills, green skills, and leadership and management.

The 2024 Welsh Government evaluation report of the Flexible Skills Programme is available here.