GENSOCIAL
A Black Country training group has secured £1 million worth of funding which will help it create more than 400 traineeships in the region.
Oldbury-based BCTG Group has received the new finance from the National Apprenticeship Service which will support a programme for 19 to 24 year olds running until the end of July.
A traineeship is a skills development programme that includes a work placement and can last anything from six weeks to a year, with the overall aim of getting young people into work.
Employers from a wide variety of industries can claim £1,000 to cover the costs of providing the work placement and currently up to another £3,000 if that trainee then becomes an apprentice.
This new funding will be used by two of BCTG Group’s subsidiary companies, with BCTG receiving £710,000 and Performance Through People, which it acquired last year, receiving £300,000.
Performance Through People is also one of the key partners in the Ladder for Greater Birmingham campaign which is creating apprenticeships across the city region.
BCTG Group chief executive Chris Luty said: “We’re delighted to be working with the Government on this substantial programme which aims to move young people into jobs quickly – usually within six to eight weeks.
“We will be recruiting for the traineeships in a range of sectors including construction, healthcare, digital and IT services, leather manufacturing, childcare, administration and logistics.”
Each young person involved will be provided with skills training, vocational qualifications, English and maths and work experience to get them ready for an apprenticeship or job if they don’t have the appropriate skills or experience.
Training will be done online in the build up to candidates taking part in work experience.
BCTG Group, which has ten sites across Birmingham, the Black Country and Staffordshire, offers more than 160 different apprenticeships and supports the training of almost 10,000 young people and adults each year.
