Benefits for your business
Skills Bootcamps can help you to:
- quickly recruit and upskill staff with the right training and skills
- reduce costs associated with traditional recruitment processes
- boost productivity with motivated learners who can bring in fresh ideas and perspectives
Accelerated apprenticeships
Skills Bootcamps can lead to accelerated apprenticeships because it is considered prior learning. This can reduce the time needed to complete an apprenticeship programme and can save your business time and costs.
Employer stories
Greater Manchester Skills Bootcamps
This video is 4 minutes and 2 seconds long
Video Transcript
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester: Skills Bootcamps are really important to us because here in Greater Manchester we're growing faster than the rest of the UK economy at the moment. There are more new jobs coming on stream here even than in London, and the risk to us is, if we don't help our residents get the skills they need to get those jobs, we may leave employers with vacancies and that would risk the growing success in the Greater Manchester economy. So, these courses are critical for us at a kind of macro level in Greater Manchester, but also it's about our residents having the support to access the amazing opportunities that are out there in Greater Manchester.
Vicky Burgess, Work and Skills Officer at Rochdale Council: Skills Bootcamps are a great way for people to enter into a specific sector that they might not have considered before. It gives some flexibility around learning that short, sharp and intense courses that really give people skills to access the workforce. For employers, it's a great way of filling vacancies.
They can work specifically on skills that are lacking in their workforce and give people an opportunity to progress within work, gain additional skills. So they're a great flexible approach to learning that you wouldn't get necessarily on an apprenticeship or an alternative learning pathway. They're a great way to enter an apprenticeship. You can gain basic skills and head off on a pathway into a career, and it's the flexibility, I think, around bootcamps that's exciting for us.
Venetia Knight, Head of Employment and Enterprise at Groundwork Manchester: So I think Skills Bootcamps are really important at the moment because we've got some really significant skill shortages in Greater Manchester. There are certain sectors like construction, digital of certain manufacturing industries where people are crying out for people with the right skills. We also have people who are looking for work and enable people to come together to get a really good training to fill those job vacancies. Otherwise, if we don't, if we don't fill vacancies so that employers are going to really struggle and you know, they may end up leaving Greater Manchester if they can't get the right people for their business.
Andy: Now is the right time for Skills Bootcamps. Because of the way the economy is changing, many people may have trained in traditional skills, let's say in traditional mechanics or bricklaying, construction, whatever that might be. But of course, the world is going digital, the world is going green, and many people will need to take a step from where they are, a sidestep into into those new industries. And that's what we're trying to do here, to make sure there's a place for everybody in the new economy.
Case studies
Find out how other businesses are using Skills Bootcamps:
Wise, software and solutions
Birmingham-based technology company, Wise, specialises in the self-employment sector, providing software and solutions to support over 250 UK logistics firms in engaging their self-employed workforce. Wise also provides a time-saving app for subcontractors to use. With a passion for creating a diverse and inclusive pathway into the technology industry for people of all ages and backgrounds, Wise explored the training opportunities available via Skills Bootcamps.
James Orton, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Wise
"I was aware of School of Code and their Digital Skills Bootcamp, offering anyone the chance to retrain and learn vital coding skills from true experts within an industry-focused environment. This really appealed to us as a route to bringing in the necessary skills we required from a digital perspective.
"Hiring a diverse range of candidates through this Skills Bootcamp has been an integral part of how our business has grown. Whether it’s been software developers, project managers or designers, all our Skills Bootcamp graduates have arrived with enthusiasm and crucially, a real hunger to carry on improving their skills within their role.
"The ethos at Wise is that you should never stop learning and that goes for every role within the company, whether you are the CEO, a senior developer or a junior marketeer, there is always something you can learn. That remains one of the biggest attractions for us as a company to a Skills Bootcamp like the ones delivered by School of Code, as they embed the idea of lifelong learning into all of their graduates."
Cost
There is no cost to your business to recruit individuals who have completed Skills Bootcamps.
If you train an existing employee through Skills Bootcamps, you will need to make a training cost contribution:
- 10% if you are a small to medium employer with 1 to 249 employees
- 30% if you are a large employer with 250 or more employees
Your employees may require time off for study and classes, depending on course flexibility and work hours.
Your responsibilities
You will need to provide:
- a guaranteed job interview within the Skills Bootcamps scheme
- a safe working environment
- an induction covering key policies and procedures
- a line manager to guide and mentor the student
Find out more
To get involved, contact local providers that offer Skills Bootcamps.
If you want to deliver a Skills Bootcamp, contact your mayoral combined authority, local authority or local enterprise partnership.
Explore schemes
- Apprenticeships
- T Levels: industry placements
- Skills Bootcamps
- Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs)
- Free courses and additional free training
- Care Leaver Covenant
- Supported internships for learners with an education, health and care plan
- Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP)
- Employing prisoners and prison leavers