Proskills will continue to develop timber sector qualifications and training following a major restructure after it lost government Sector Skills Council (SSC) funding.
The organisation became timber SSC at the start of 2010 and has since worked with the industry to assess its training needs and provision and develop NVQs. The first three of these were officially unveiled at Ecobuild in March.
However, Proskills learned earlier this year that its bid, on the behalf the eight industry sectors it worked for, for money under the Employers Industry Fund had been rejected. This amounted to £1.6m, or two-thirds of its funding.
As a result it had to “develop a new business model” and refocus on a number of specific areas, agreed with its industry board.
“But our new structure is now in place and has been approved,” said interim chief executive Tom Bowtell. “Unfortunately it has involved losing people, but we still have a knowledgeable and motivated team. We’ve been through the pain of downsizing and are now in delivery mode – for our industry partners it really is business as usual.”
From June, he added, Proskills will no longer be an SSC.
“Instead we will be a Standards Setting organisation and National Skills Council,” he said. “This means we will be able to access government funding, so most of our work for our industries will be free, although for aspects such as individual company training consultancy, there may be a fee.”
Helen Hewitt will remain Proskills industry lead for timber and continue work with the sector on the development of the next tranche of NVQs, a new apprenticeship framework and the Make-It Wood schools education and awareness programme.
Timber Trade Federation chief executive John White said he was delighted with the outcome for Proskills.
“We’ve already achieved tremendous things with them in launching the first NVQs, and they are now focused on the areas which are really core for us: qualifications, our apprentice framework and work with schools,” he said.
