TRAINING
Recruits – Kelly Skeet, third from left, with Tristan Smith, Shona McNab and Charlie Henderson, who all started their Etc. careers with the help of BELPs.
HOW A BELP CAN HELP
WORDS: DAVE ROBSON PICTURES: TOM BANKS
College staff prove the value of bespoke employer-led programmes
It’ s an unusual sounding acronym – but BELPs continue to prove their worth at the Education Training Collective( Etc.). Funded by the Tees Valley mayor and Combined Authority( TVCA) through its Adult Skills Fund, BELPs – Bespoke Employer-Led Programmes – are short employability courses that help employers fill vacancies and unemployed people find work.
Working alongside sector employers, the courses are shaped to help tackle regional skills gaps and come with a guaranteed interview.
In other parts of the country, BELPS are known as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes( SWAPs), but whatever they’ re called, their effectiveness is clear.
The Etc. – which comprises Bede Sixth Form College, Innersummit, NETA Training, Redcar and Cleveland College, Stockton Riverside College and The Skills Academy – runs between 20 to 25 BELPs annually, with multiple entry points throughout the academic year.
The short courses range from two to six weeks and are co-designed and created with employers to benefit students who might not traditionally access Further
Education programmes, such as the long-term or newly unemployed, or those at risk of redundancy.
With TVCA approval, they can also extend to employed learners, with in-work training helping them secure progression and retain employment.
And for proof they work, Etc. practise what they preach. Several long-term Etc. staff can vouch for their effectiveness because they followed similar courses to gain employment with the group.
Tees Business met three staff who landed their roles through the employerled programmes – the employer in their cases being the Etc.
Charlie Henderson, 23 – BELP administrator: Former Bede Sixth Form College student Charlie, 23, left college at 18 eager to move straight into work. Arriving at Stockton Riverside College in 2020 to follow a business administration pre-apprenticeship programme, his guaranteed interview proved successful and he was offered an apprenticeship with the pre-employment team – and now he helps people in the same position he was. Charlie, of Thornaby, said:“ I’ d never had a
Benefits – Etc. adult skills manager Kelly Skeet says the advantages of BELPs are clear to see.
38 | Tees Business