Workforce skills

National Careers Service
National Careers Service can support your staff to progress in the workplace by offering free, impartial and personalised careers advice.
Find out more about the support on offer by visiting its website.
Your business can get support with:
- Workshops: A range of group workshops can be delivered digitally to your employees, including workshops on identifying transferable skills and improving specific skills.
- One-to-one support: National Careers Service can offer each employee an appointment with a qualified careers adviser to help them review their existing skills and strengths and identify ways they can improve these.
- Redundancy: National Careers Service have a proven track record of supporting small, medium and large-scale redundancies. Careers Advisers can help with information on the labour market, funding for learning and job vacancies.

Skills Support for the Workforce
As an SME, micro business or sole trader, you can get help to increase the skill levels of your employees. The programme delivers training to support employee progression at work and productivity. Training is tailored to address skills gaps specific to each business.
For more information visit: https://ssw.fundingunit.org.uk/
Here, two employers share the impact and positive experience of engaging with Skills Support for the Workforce training provision:
https://ssw.fundingunit.org.uk/case-study-business-growth-thanks-to-digital-training/
https://ssw.fundingunit.org.uk/case-study-open-thinking-helps-unlock-new-business-ideas/

This Programme is part funded by the European Social Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

Bespoke Skills
Bespoke Skills focuses on supporting your business or organisation by delivering targeted training crucial to addressing the skills gaps that challenge your growth ambitions. We aim to help you embed high performance and improve productivity, with a particular focus on connecting businesses and people in rural areas to skills.
The offer is adapted to suit your needs with examples of training including technical and environmental skills such as safe use of machines, groundworking skills and safe use of pesticides, analytical and creativity skills; collaborative working; business skills; budgeting and communication; basic book keeping skills.
For more information, please visit Vicky Anderson Business Services and Training
If you would like to see your staff benefit from increased productivity and see increased staff retention, contact us. You can access up to 60% funding towards a range of training and consultancy.
In order to be eligible for support through this Programme you must:
- have business premises in the York, North Yorkshire, East Riding region (Craven, Harrogate, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby, York)
- be a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME): employ fewer than 250 full time equivalent staff and have either a turnover of less than €50 million, or a balance sheet of less than €43 million

This Programme is part funded by the European Social Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
For more information on these programmes, get in touch and we’ll connect you to the expertise and resources you need.
Articles
Help is one call away: how the Growth Hub helpdesk can support you
Are you thinking about starting, growing, or scaling your business? Hear about how the Growth Hub helpdesk can help you by providing the latest business support, tailored to your needs.
New support for York and North Yorkshire businesses as leading regional media figure joins the Growth Hub
Mike Pennington, a familiar name in the UK media industry, has recently joined the York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub as a Business Relationship Manager. In 2023, he'll be bringing his expertise to businesses in our region and connecting them with the Made Smarter scheme.
York, North Yorkshire and East Riding employers urged not to miss out on free skills training
Employers across York, North Yorkshire and East Riding are being reminded that it’s their last chance to take advantage of free training and support through the Skills Support for the Workforce Programme before the it ends in March 2023.
Events
15th February 20239:00 am - 5:00 pmFREE
15 Feb - Harrogate Co-Lab: Business Support Drop-In Session
This free drop-in service based in Harrogate can help answer your questions and direct you to relevant business support, resources and programmes.
22nd February 20239:00 am - 4:30 pmFREE
22 Feb - Pitching Perfectly - To win new business
Are you a small to medium sized food or drink business that wants to win more business and need to plan the perfect pitch? This full day workshop will help you understand what buyers are looking for and give you the confidence to pitch to them.
01st March 20234:00 pm - 6:00 pmFREE
1 March - Ian Howard- The Enterprise Growth Roadmap
In this two-hour session, Ian Howard will introduce The Enterprise Growth Roadmap. Regardless of where you are at right now, whether you are just launching your business, trying to make sense of the number of opportunities available to you or looking to attract external investment, the Enterprise Growth Roadmap Planning Workshop will help you create a framework to develop your own growth strategy together with some simple steps to help you implement it.
Resources
Glossary of Climate Change Terms for Businesses
A free digital glossary defining the key climate change terms relevant to businesses, to help you understand and engage with sustainability resources and support.
2022 Seminar Recordings
We have recently hosted a programme of in-person seminars and other events, some of which were professionally recorded and can now be viewed on our website.
Seminar Recording : Access to finance: Funding growth
This workshop will provide guidance on cost based pricing, calculating your costs before deciding an appropriate margin, as well as covering market based pricing asking questions such as: What value do you add? What are you worth? How do you position yourself?