Greater Manchester is plugging digital skills gaps with employer-led training designed to upskill staff and encourage business growth
Did you know that:
- 17.1 million adults (that’s over half of the total workforce) lack the essential digital skills required for work? (Lloyds Bank’s UK Consumer digital index 2021)
- A total of 176,000 Greater Manchester residents have not accessed the internet in the last three months (Pro Manchester online, May 2021)
- Greater Manchester is already home to the largest digital cluster outside London, with almost 8,000 digital and digital-intense creative businesses, employing more than 82,300 people and generating £4.1bn of economic growth annually (The Greater Manchester Digital Strategy 2018-2020)
Greater Manchester’s skills system is facing several challenges.
The full impact of Covid-19 and Brexit on the labour market is yet to be seen but it’s clear that businesses in the city-region will need to continue to adapt in order to thrive.
Coding, AI, cloud and robotics skills have never been more in demand so to support businesses to make the most of digital acceleration, The Coders Guild in partnership with Serco and UK Skills Academy is delivering fully funded training through Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s ‘Skills for Growth’ programme.
Skills for Growth is a three-year programme made possible thanks to a £42m investment from the European Social Fund and is aimed at delivering free training across priority industries, which is shaped and bespoke to employer needs.
Courses will support business growth and are aimed at employed people in Greater Manchester who want to develop their skills in order to progress or move into a new field.
The Coders Guild will support Serco’s ‘Digital Upskill Careers Programme’ and will:
- Get more people to sign up to quality reskilling and upskilling digital courses, to unlock more tech talent in the region
- Give people from non-traditional tech backgrounds a chance, based on their potential, not their CV
- Give people the confidence to explore the world of digital, no matter their background or experience.The fact is, if you’re smart and have a desire to learn, you can be an excellent candidate for a tech role. So many skills are transferable to tech.
Our suite of fully funded digital courses in Greater Manchester has just launched and are available to employers who want to upskill their staff as well as individuals who want a new challenge. They are ideal for people already in digital roles who need to learn additional or advanced skills to progress.
SMEs of all sizes will have the opportunity to upskill their staff in areas such as cyber security, digital marketing, data analytics and content creation.
All digital courses are:
- Flexible and fully funded
- Designed to provide tech and digital skills that align with local economic needs
- Developed to fill high in-demand roles in Greater Manchester
- Eligible to anyone, employer or employee, in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford or Wigan.
Find out more about the new courses on our Course Directory or contact us hello@thecodersguild.org.uk or 0113 460 1024.
Or visit Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s website to find out more about the Skills for Growth programme.
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