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Could You be Missing Out on Government Training Initiatives?
 In
small businesses, there is often not a lot
of money to pay for formal training; but the
majority of small businesses are potentially
missing out on training initiatives from the
government.
A survey, by the independent Small Business
Research Trust (SBRT), and sponsored by HSBC
Bank plc, has found that almost 70% of
smaller businesses were not aware of the
training role of the Sector Skills Councils
or the Train2Gain scheme. It also revealed
that almost half of those smaller firms
responding carried out no formal training,
though some carried out informal, on-the-job
training.
Awareness of Government training schemes was
particularly low among micro firms (0 to 9
employees), with just over 17% aware of the
role of the Sector Skills Councils or the
Train2Gain programme. Among small firms (10
to 49 employees), about a third of the
respondents were aware of one or both of
these initiatives. Medium-sized firms (50 to
249 employees) reported that almost 29% knew
about the Sector Skills Councils and over
40% about Train2Gain.
The report also shows that the smaller the
business, the less likely it is to offer any
external or internal formal training. The
survey found that only 40% of macro
companies provided formal training, 69% of
small companies and 87% of medium-sized
companies.
Simon Wainwright, Head of Business Banking at HSBC isn’t surprised by the
findings.
"Time and money are rare commodities in most small businesses, so the
prospect of having to spend potentially thousands of pounds on training
often makes companies unwilling to consider
it. However, small businesses are an
important part of the economy and increasing
their capacity to learn and develop means
they will be more resilient, able to grow
quicker and create employment.
"Every small firm is different and it is unlikely that 'off-the-peg'
training will be appropriate for many. It
is vital that training providers make clear
the financial payback of the programmes they
offer. They need to provide flexible
solutions to small business owners which
meet their needs and complement the less
structured, informal learning activities
that form the backbone of most training for
employees of small businesses."
Brian Wolfe, Chairman of SBRT, said: “There
must be serious concern that such a small
proportion of small businesses seem to be
aware of the opportunities for training
provision now being backed by significant
government funding through Train2Gain and
other initiatives. There is a real danger
that larger businesses, with the
infrastructure to access such provision,
will reap most of the benefit – leaving
small business requirements unrecognised”.
Lack of information on skills initiatives
was one factor cited as a reason for not
undertaking formal, external training. This
reason was given by 16% of micro firms, 16%
of small firms, and 10% of medium-sized
firms.
Twenty per cent of micro firms said they did
not have any staff who currently needed
training. Among small businesses, only 7%
said this, and with medium-sized firms, the
number was 3%. While it seems obvious that
the larger the number of staff, the more
likely it is that employers will identify
people who need training, these findings
suggest that many owners of micro firms do
not appreciate the benefits of formal
training.
Another major concern among all types of
smaller businesses was the difficulty of
replacing employees who were absent while
training. This problem was listed by 14% of
micro firms, 17% of small firms and 27% of
medium-sized firms. The lower number of
micro firms reporting this concern is
thought to be because of their predominant
reliance on ‘in-house’ training.
For more information on how
the Train2Gain scheme could benefit your
business visit the site here.
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