£12.5 million apprenticeship fund awaits third-sector employers

This was the message conveyed to representatives from the sector at an event organised by Fair Train in central London yesterday (4 February) to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week.

Attendees were encouraged to apply before the end of March to be one of 5,000 organisations to receive a £2,500 grant from the Government's National Apprenticeship Service to pay the wages of a 16 or 17 year-old taken on as an apprentice and given on-the-job training.

Fair Train is a  network helping to get funding for apprenticeships in charities, social enterprises and other not-for-profit organisations by putting them in touch with providers of fair training for their young recruits.

The organisations involved in Fair Train are ACEVO, Action for Children, Barnardo's, Enable, Learning Curve, NACRO, NAVCA, NCVO, North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, The Prince's Trust, Skills - Third Sector, South London Learning Consortium, St John Ambulance, VISTA and VSNW.

Stephen Gardner, director of employer based training with Rathbone, the organisation involved in co-ordinating Fair Train, said: "In the past, third-sector organisations have often been wary of services provided by training providers, but from today with the launch of Fair Train, the sector has its own members' association dedicated to its needs."

Catch22 is a national charity dedicated to helping young people out of difficult situations and supporting them to make positive changes in their lives. Catch22 (South East Training) has been running apprenticeships for more than 10 years, and has employed apprentices since 2003.

Jessica Nevett, Catch22 sales and marketing manager, said: "One of the benefits of employing apprentices is the boost to staff morale. Existing members of staff can pass on their knowledge and skills and in doing this take great pride in watching the apprentices grow and develop."

Jane Slowey, who chaired yesterday's event, and who is also chair of Skills - Third Sector, pointed out: "Most third-sector organisations to date have not been using the funding and support that is available to them to train new and existing staf. However, today's event highlighted the passion that exists in the third sector to build a better workforce. The challenge for us is to show our appetite for apprenticeships and get behind Fair Train."

Fair Train's information booklet, Fair Training for Fair Organisations: Apprenticeships in the Third Sector, is available to read online at their website www.fairtrain.org