The UK’s Automotive Academy is launching a new re-employment training programme for workers made redundant from MG Rover, its supply chain and as the result of the axing of a shift at Peugeot’s plant near Coventry during 2005.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The programme will be launched on 31 January at an open day at South Birmingham College’s Digbeth Auditorium in Birmingham city centre.
Up to 100 candidates will then participate in a pilot programme funded by the Learning and Skills Council.
Further programmes, which are free to candidates, will be run and the programme will also be considered for a national roll-out, subject to the success of the pilot and funding arrangements.
The academy is working alongside Job Centre Plus [a government employment agency] which will send information to qualifying people in the West Midlands, including over 2,000 former employees of the Rover plant in Longbridge, its former suppliers, and Peugeot’s Ryton facility.
The re-employment training programme is a 15-week package resulting in the award of an academy ‘skills passport’. Comprehensive training in engineering operations is supplemented by the academy’s business improvement techniques level 2 course, which includes live assembly operations and a visit to a ‘best practice’ company.
This should prove to potential employers that the candidate possesses all the key skills to go straight into any production environment. Candidates will also be guaranteed a job interview with the possibility of working for a number of major automotive manufacturers.
Academy chief executive Alan Begg, said: “In the wake of recent highly publicised job losses, the academy is striving to retain essential skills within the industry, as well as raise the skills and expertise of those actively seeking re-employment.”
