Funding available for projects that remove barriers to apprenticeships

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has launched a new project to support local organisations to attract and recruit apprenticeships and remove barriers for underrepresented groups.

The project, called Removing Barriers, will provide funding to all organisations, across public, private and charitable sectors, to develop initiatives supporting under-represented groups from accessing apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship activity.

Each project can access up to £50,000 of funding, with applications closing on 16^th April.  An event is being held on March 9^th to launch the project.

Removing Barriers plans to support numerous small projects that encourage learners from groups currently underrepresented on apprenticeship programmes, including black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities, single parents, care leavers, people with mental or physical health conditions, women in STEM, young people directly from GCSEs and the over 50s.

The aim of the project is to support a range of pilot activities that can increase uptake of apprenticeships across all groups.  The GMCA aims to increase the number of high quality apprenticeships available to residents, and apprenticeship numbers nationwide have continued to drop despite government reforms. GMCA also wants to rebalance the disparities with the apprenticeship workforce between different genders, cultural and ethnic background, ages and disabilities.

More information about the project is available on the GMCA website, or visit the launch event’s Eventbrite page to register an interest.