CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > February 2022 33 SKILLS SKILLS CPA Skills Toolkit The CPA Skills Toolkit was established to support our members better, understand the skills and employment landscape and learn how to access available support, information, and guidance. Skills and employment challenges are well known in the construction sector, particularly within the plant-hire industry. The CPA Skills Toolkit aims to keep members updated on relevant government information and initiatives, for example skills funding, and to help support employers to address these challenges. Updates can be found on the CPA website under https://www.cpa.uk.net/ skills-training/cpa-skills-employment-tool-kit . We hope you find it useful. Context There have been several Government initiatives during 2021 to develop skills and increase productivity. In principle, these initiatives support employers to recruit and develop their workforce, however the number of initiatives and the complexity of them can prove overwhelming. The CPA Skills Toolkit aims to provide some simple information to help our members navigate the skills landscape and enable them to access the support that’s available. The Skills for Jobs white paper, published in January 2021, set the scene for employers and training providers to work more closely together and ensure learners/students are trained in technical skills to support sustainable employment. Government employment and training initiatives There has also been the introduction of the Kickstart Scheme (see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme ) where unemployed 16–24-year-olds get the chance to work and train with an employer for 6 months. We will provide some further updates on successes/challenges later in the year. Alongside the Kickstart Scheme, there has been the introduction of work placement schemes for school/college students, primarily through the new T-Levels, equivalent to A-Level but based on technical skills and structured 45-day industry placements. Two new Construction T-Levels were introduced in September 2021: • Building Services Engineering for Construction • Onsite Construction At advanced levels of training, we have seen the introduction of Skills Bootcamps (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ find-a-skills-bootcamp/list-of-skills-bootcamps ) in both the digital and construction sectors. A pilot scheme for bootcamps was launched in London recently and we’ll update further on this in the coming weeks. Apprenticeships The Government flagship skills strategy continues to be built around apprenticeships. The plant industry has done much over the last few years to ensure good coverage of plant apprenticeships to support new entrants into the industry for plant hire employers. The current plant apprenticeship include: • Construction Plant Operative (Level 2) • Hire Controller (Level 2) • Lifting Technician (Level 2) • Construction Equipment Maintenance (Level 2) There are also some more generic construction apprenticeships that support plant employers. These include: • Road Surfacing Operative (Level 2) • Groundworker (Level 2) • Demolition Operative (Level 2) To further support apprenticeships, the government’s apprenticeship incentive scheme was available until 31st January 2022. The scheme enabled employers to claim £3,000 for hiring a new apprenticeship, on top of the existing £1,000 employers receive. We are hopeful this scheme could be extended beyond January 2022. Finally, a construction specific Jobs portal, Talent View (see https://www.talentview.org/construction ) was launched in September 2021, to support the many job shortages within the industry.