Clearview National July 2019 - Issue 212 | Page 70

PROUD SPONSOR OF INSTALLER SUPPORT INSTALLERSUPPORT TRAINING AND APPRENTICESHIPS FOR REGISTERED INSTALLERS » » FENSA HAS EXTENDED ITS SUPPORT services for Approved Installers by partnering with Solvo Vir to provide accredited training and apprenticeships in a number of UK areas. The deal follows the awarding of contracts to provide such schemes funded by the European Social Fund, co-funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, a programme designed to deliver responsive workplace learning courses in key geographical areas, to meet individual, economic and regional needs. The courses to be provided to FENSA Approved Installers will include the following: Diploma in Fenestration Installation; L2 Certificate in the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for Domestic Dwellings; Certificate in Wall and Floor Tiling; Diploma in Plastering (Construction); Diploma in Wood Occupations; Diploma in Cladding Occupations; Foundation Certificate in Bookkeeping; Mental Health and Suicide Awareness in the Construction Industry; and Certificate in Introduction to Energy. The areas covered include Tees Valley, Humberside, Lincolnshire, The Marches (Staffordshire), Herefordshire and Shropshire, including Telford. Alongside these courses Solvo Vir is offering Apprenticeship programmes in Management, Accountancy, Recruitment, Business Administration and Customer Service across the whole of England. These programmes can be either fully funded via the Apprenticeship Levy or 95% funded by the government. FENSA Managing Director Anda Gregory says: “We are committed to driving work to FENSA Approved Installers by increasing the demand by homeowners for FENSA Approved Installations. We have a responsibility therefore to also ensure FENSA Installers have the appropriate skills with which to respond to this growing demand.” Many FENSA Approved Installers are expected to qualify for substantial funding for small business apprenticeships under the scheme and any company in the geographical areas covered that wish to learn more should go to www.solvovir.co.uk/apprenticeships, or email Cat Doyle at [email protected] Employers look to Solvo Vir to provide on-the-job training in order to improve their organisation’s productivity, efficiency and agility. Their expert trainers and assessors have been working with organisations to provide high quality specialist training programmes and apprenticeship schemes since 2012 in Accountancy, Management, Business Administration, Customer Service and Recruitment. It also offer a number of ESF (European Social Fund) and AEB (Adult Education Budget) funded short courses for SME’s across England in the Construction Sector helping individuals from all sizes and sectors of organisations to unlock their potential, with accredited training programmes endorsed by national awarding bodies. NVQ support helps boost skills gap » » EPWIN WINDOW SYSTEMS’ flagship membership programme, Excellence as Standard, has partnered with MRG Services Ltd, the largest UK national provider of qualifications to the window industry. Katie Leese, Programme Manager for Excellence as Standard said: “One of the biggest concerns in the industry at the moment is the impending skills gap. We know that fabricators and installers are concerned about finding skilled workers and it’s something that Excellence as Standard helps address. The comprehensive membership programme aims to drive quality at every stage of the business and a core part of that is in having a skilled and qualified workforce.” Formed in 2007, MRG Services UK has established a strong reputation for delivering quality apprenticeship training programmes, as validated by Ofsted. The team operate a ‘We bring the college to you’ approach meaning they can deliver all programmes directly on site to the fabricator or installer. 70 » JUL 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M A cornerstone of Excellence as Standard is the Excellence Academy, which offers routes to creating a skilled workforce. Through the comprehensive training platform numerous courses are now available, all managed by MRG Services UK. MRG Services UK is headed up by well- known industry training specialist Paul Gray who has over twenty years’ experience in delivering qualifications to the industry. Paul said: “We are delighted to partner with Excellence as Standard as the principles of the programme are closely aligned with our own. We offer Excellence as Standard members a range of approved courses, from one day Health & Safety Workshops, CSCS Card Accreditations, and Competence Update Assessments, to full Apprenticeships. There are qualifications for window, door and conservatory installers, installers of roof line products, glaziers, curtain walling installers, window, door and conservatory fabricators, glass processors, stores and warehouse persons, panel installers and trade counter staff.” The partnership with MRG Services UK complements the additional training services of Excellence as Standard approved partner Pro-fitter. Katie said: “We recently partnered with Pro-Fitter which is a fully GQA-accredited and recognised training centre. It provides hands-on and classroom-based training in a variety of fenestration products. The mix of Pro-Fitter hands-on training and NVQ/training qualifications with MRG Services UK delivers a complete training platform to help upskill our members’ workforce and give them a competitive edge in the process.” www.epwin.co.uk