Norfolk and Suffolk Skills Bootcamps (Wave 4)

Skills Bootcamps are Government-funded initiatives designed to help businesses find and hire the workers they need; as well as supporting adults to flourish and fulfil their potential through high quality training.

Skills Bootcamps aim to secure benefits for adults by giving them access to in-demand skills training and a guaranteed interview for a more sustainable, higher-skilled job and higher wages over time. The benefits for employers include helping them fill specific skills shortage vacancies, enabling them to become more productive, more quickly.

Skills Bootcamps are intensive, generally Level 3-5 or equivalent flexible training courses up to 16 weeks, with a guaranteed job interview (in the case of a new job), which equip adults with technical skills that enable them to access in-demand jobs, apprenticeships, new opportunities and an increased level of income over time (including for the self-employed).

In Wave 4, the following lot areas are being focused on:

• Digital
• Technical
• Construction
• Green
• HGV
• Pathways to Accelerated Apprenticeships

We also have the opportunity to deliver up to 30% of our total grant value in any sector/skill area that aligns with the IFATE occupational maps where there is evidence of demand.

Skills Bootcamps should be open to all adults aged 19 or over, who are full-time or part-time employed, self-employed, unemployed (i.e. not in work), as well as adults returning to work after a break. A provider has discretion to determine whether to use a Skills Bootcamp to support adults who have been unemployed for longer than 12 months if they judge that will support them effectively. Skills Bootcamps should also be open to serving prisoners due to be released within 6 months of completion of a Skills Bootcamp and those on Temporary Release.

All Skills Bootcamps must be open to all eligible adults within the communities they serve.

No prior attainment is required unless specifically prescribed by an employer and/or specifically related to the job and sector within which the vacancies offered are situated. An adult may only undertake one Skills Bootcamp per funding year.

An adult must have the right to work in the UK.

Skills Bootcamps must be delivered at Level 3-5 or equivalent. Level 2 or equivalent Skills Bootcamps can only be delivered in Construction, Green Skills and Logistics (HGV driving) as a minimum. All training must either be accredited, aligned to occupational standards managed by the Institute for Apprenticeship & Technical Education or utilise a recognised standard for representing attainment (e.g. RARPA, SFIA).

We expect the courses on offer to be a minimum of 60 Guided Learning Hours (GLH) and a maximum of 16 weeks. Guided Learning Hours are the time a learner spends being taught or instructed by - or otherwise participating in education or training under the immediate guidance or supervision of a lecturer, supervisor, tutor or other appropriate provider of education or training whether this is in person or online.

Skills Bootcamps should be delivered flexibly in order to accommodate the concurrent commitments of participants. This includes the work-related responsibilities of those employed in either a full-time or part-time role as well as around any other commitments that may apply to any participant (employed or unemployed). Courses should also be accessible to learners and adjustments must be made, as appropriate, for those learners with Protected Characteristics (as defined by the Equalities Act (2010)).

We expect all learners to progress to a guaranteed job interview, or into an enhanced role.

Provision may be delivered remotely or face to face or a blend with suppliers providing a clear rationale for the method of delivery. Suppliers must either be accredited, aligned to occupational standards managed by the Institute for Apprenticeship & Technical Education or utilise a recognised standard for representing attainment.