Employment and Training

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has published a video that shows employers how to use pause & stop in the apprenticeship service to record a break in learning.

This video takes employers through the new measures relating to breaks in learning that were recently detailed in the apprenticeship programme response to COVID-19 document. The Agency also describes why they might want to pause or stop an apprentice record in the apprenticeship service, and how to do it.

It also explains the steps that training providers have to take to record apprentice “breaks in learning” through the Individualised Learner Record, or ILR.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s monthly round-up of apprenticeship information and news for businesses is available.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has created an incentives one-pager that brings together the choices for people over 16 years of age. It describes each programme and includes:

• Employer costs
• Incentives
• Training
• Duration
• Eligibility
• Progression route
• Links to additional information

This guidance provides information on:

• applying the policy on breaks in learning;
• delays to end-point assessment (EPA); and
• alternative arrangements for EPA and external quality assurance.

The Redundancy Support Service for Apprentices (ReSSA), launched by the Department for Education, provides clear, accessible advice and guidance to apprentices following redundancy, while supporting their next steps. It will help redundant apprentices to identify new apprenticeship and employment opportunities, and, where they are eligible, complete their current apprenticeship.

The Department for Education are asking if you would be able to support redundant apprentices by sharing details of any apprenticeship vacancies you have. Apprentices that have been made redundant may already have the valuable skills and experience that your organisation needs. They are eager to continue their apprenticeship, put their learning into practice and can give organisations a quick return on investment.

The service will share your vacancy details with redundant apprentices through the new vacancy sharing service. Suitable candidates will receive regular emails asking them to contact you directly using the details you supply.

If you would like to recruit a redundant apprentice or offer new apprenticeship opportunities, please visit Hiring an apprentice who has been made redundant or call 0800 015 0600 to find out more. You can also watch our YouTube video for more information.

If you are aware of any apprentices who have been made redundant please encourage them to visit Facing redundancy during your apprenticeship or call 0800 015 0400 to speak to an adviser.

BT Skills for Tomorrow aims to give people the skills they need to flourish in the digital world. Due to the spread of the coronavirus, having these skills is more important than ever.

Large numbers of people are self-isolating or are confined to their homes. It is vital that people with low or no digital skills can keep in touch with family and friends and access health services. The spread of the coronavirus presents significant challenges to small businesses. Families with children at home from school need to get the best out of technology to help their children to learn and play. And many people need support as they work from home for the first time.

Working in partnership with leading digital skills organisations, BT Skills for Tomorrow has free resources and information to help people with each of these challenges.

Produced by The Open University, a world leader in open and distance learning, all OpenLearn courses are free to study. The Open University offers nearly 1000 free courses across 8 different subject areas, and are available to start right away.

Examples of practice for remote education from schools and academies across England are available.

Discover a range of free learning content designed to help grow your business or jump-start your career. You can learn by selecting individual modules, or dive right in and take an entire course end-to-end.

NCSC has today published guidance to support businesses moving from physical to digital delivery as part of the ongoing COVID-19 response. The guidance has been created specifically to support businesses who are relying more heavily on IT services to run their business.

The NCSC is committed to equipping all UK businesses with the best cyber security advice. The support package includes guidance on home working, video teleconferencing and spotting email scams related to Covid-19. All additional and pre-existing guidance for business can be found on the NCSC webpage.