vicis pro verum quod probitas
© What Funding
Recently the DWP has an initiative (yes yet another) called ‘Rapid Response’ that may be of interest to you (or you can use it as a tool to get your Job Centre to help you).
The rapid response service (RRS) team in your region based in your local Job Centre Plus can help people facing redundancy or in the first 13 weeks of redundancy with training and job search support. They asses you on an individual basis to see if you are eligible to funding for retraining. (This is relevant to employers with 20 or more staff who are making the workforce redundant. If you do not fit into this particular category use it a lever to say why are you treating me differently to others!!!!!) Contact your local office.
Try this link for further details - http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snep-04891.pdf
If you are in the catchments area for Better West Midlands Redundancy Support Project (http://www.betterwestmidlands.org.uk/?gclid=CJ2B9dKEhqACFcUB4wodcXXitA and http://www.unitetheunion.com/regions/west_midlands/better_west_midlands_redundanc.aspx) assists people made redundant from the manufacturing industry.
How to approach obtaining funding for your chosen course
The most important aspect of funding is that you need to apply for it before you attend a course not afterwards.
It is always worth a try to obtain funding as there is in essence nothing to lose and everything to gain for only a little effort.
The way you go about obtaining the funding for YOUR chosen course is important - YOU need to be armed with as much information as possible (course literature details of travel and other expenses you will need etc) and be firm but friendly.
Go armed with the information for the course YOU want to attend – in this instance the ‘Domestic Appliance Service Engineer Foundation Course’ and ask them “How THEY can assist YOU in attending this particular course” (no other just the one YOU want).
DO NOT ask “Can you help me” attend your chosen course as often the ‘easiest answer for them to give you’ will be ‘NO’ (in essence I don’t want to fill in the forms required just for one person).
For some reason known only to many but not all Job Centre Advisors is that they tend to quote that help is only available for those unemployed more than 6 months effectively leaving the newly unemployed to stagnate.
With this type of advisor even those with over 6 months of unemployment (who want to work that is!!) find many obstacles placed in their way when it comes to wanting a career choice or a course of their own choosing.
If you are not ‘firm and focused’ in what YOU want what may be offered (if anything) are College courses such as ‘Basic Skills’ (Maths, English or Basic Computer skill etc.
It is likely that these are offered as they are an ‘easy option’ for the Job Centre advisor as they can simply ship a whole group of unemployed to a local College with very little paperwork or effort on their part and they will be on longer 6 to 9 month course or longer for 2 or 3 day a week (out of their hair so to speak).
