Training cash for the unemployed

West Suffolk College, Bury St Edmunds is one of eighteen colleges in the East of England who are to get extra Government funding to train people who have been unemployed for more than six months and help them back into work.

£83 million is to be spent on offering 75,000 high quality training places to the long-term unemployed nationally.

The College will be working with the Job Centre to match training to the demands of the local job market, from retail to hospitality, right up to vocational training at the equivalent of A-level standard.

“We have developed a service to help people who are being made unemployed, have been unemployed for some time and people who are at risk of redundancy within the next six months,” said Martyn Wagner, Vice Principal at West Suffolk College.

People accessing the courses will also be able to continue their training once they get a job, ensuring that they get a range of skills which will help them secure sustainable employment.

The government says it is looking particularly to work with colleges and training providers that are already successfully working with employers, and who demonstrate the greatest flexibility and responsiveness in helping participants boost their prospects of sustainable employment.

Prior to this announcement, West Suffolk College had already been making an effort to help the unemployed back into work.

Working in conjunction with the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) and the European Social Fund, the College has been working with unemployed people locally to help them brush up their skills in areas like IT, English, maths, CV writing and interview skills in order to enhance their job prospects.

To find out more about help available from West Suffolk College, call the information Centre on 01284 716333, visit the College website at www.westsuffolk.ac.uk or call in at the Bury St Edmunds campus or any of the local Centre in Haverhill Ipswich, Mildenhall, Stowmarket, Sudbury and Thurston.