YCTD teams up with West Yorkshire colleges to support businesses with training

We are working alongside six other West Yorkshire colleges to give businesses a simple way to access funded training and advice.

As part of the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges’ Let’s Talk Real Skills project, we are offering SMEs in the Leeds City Region a free ‘Skills Plan’ service.

The new online enquiry service provides a simple gateway to book a session with one of the region’s leading training providers and allows businesses to access the training they need.

Many businesses have already benefited from a skills plan and have made crucial relationships with contacts who have helped make the most of their training budgets.

Projects Director at the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges Joanne Patrickson said,

“It is important for businesses to have a simple method to get in touch with us, or one of our partners. Booking a skills plan is a great way to make that first point of contact so we can understand the skills needs and link the business to the right funding or opportunity. The engagement we have with businesses also provides us with the insight to develop future, collaborative skills programmes in the region.

“Each of our partners have a dedicated business engagement team who carry out the skills plans. We find that these sessions often develop into long-term relationships and businesses will come back for support and advice over many years.”

Businesses in the Leeds City Region can request a free Skills Plan at book.westyorkshirecolleges.co.uk and can choose the training provider of their choice.

Let’s Talk Real Skills is managed by the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges and funded by the European Social Fund. To be eligible, businesses must be an SME (under 250 employees) based in Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield or York.