Support programme helps more than 1,600 Greater Manchester SMEs in first 18 months

Over 1,600 SMEs in Greater Manchester, and 2,500 employees, have received support from the Skills for Growth – SME Support programme in the 18 months since it launched.

The programme, which looks to help businesses across the city-region to upskill and re-skill their employees, launched in October 2020, delivered by GC Business Growth Hub in partnership with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce (GMCC).

The fully funded business support programme is designed to help Greater Manchester SME’s achieve their growth ambitions through workforce development and is funded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and European Social Fund.

Since its inception, Skills for Growth – SME Support has now supported 1,663 businesses and 2,578 individuals across the city-region to undertake training and development across a range of disciplines including leadership and management, sales and marketing, IT and ecommerce and social care.

Firms accepted on the programme benefit from up to six months support, working alongside a dedicated Skills Coach, who provides an in-depth business diagnostic and workforce development plan tailored to achieve the business’ growth ambitions as well as being further supported to create personal employee development plans and help in finding suitable training courses. Alongside this, business leaders can also access specialist support through apprenticeship and health and wellbeing advisors.

The programme has also helped 112 people to embark on an apprenticeship and a further 626 businesses have been referred for health and wellbeing support, helping them to understand the personal needs of their employees and tackle the productivity challenges that come with having a disengaged and disconnected workforce.

Cheadle based Fresh Approach UK is among the Greater Manchester SMEs to have accessed the support programme. Staff at the firm have undertaken 96 training courses which have helped to create four new jobs, increase productivity by 20% and make £18,000 in savings from part and fully funded training.

Kelly Humphreys, Head of Support, Fresh Approach UK, said:

“We’ve had a great experience with the Growth Company, accessing funded training for over half our team, on a total of 96 courses.

“The support has been great, and [Skills Coach] Dom has always been on hand when we’ve needed help. We would not have been able to offer this number or variety of training to the team without the support of the team at Skills for Growth SME Support or the funding towards training.

“This has meant we’ve been able to run additional sessions within the same training budget. The online course finder has been useful and meant we could explore the options first and match these to individuals. We will continue to work with the Growth Hub as we grow our training provision into 2022.”

Dawn Duggan (pictured), Head of People Skills and Talent – GC Business Growth Hub, said:

“Skills for Growth is all about helping SMEs in Greater Manchester to grow by identifying skills gaps and we’re really pleased with the success so far.

“We’ve had a really strong response both in terms of the number of businesses and people we have helped. It’s really pleasing to see how the support has helped businesses and people to develop new skills and the positive business impacts that have been achieved as a result.

“We know the last couple of years have been tough for businesses and hope that this support is helping them to develop, grow and futureproof in these challenging circumstances. These challenges are just beginning for many companies and we are looking forward to continuing to support businesses to get the skills they need as we move forward.

“Places on the Skills for Growth – SME Support programme are available for a limited time only, so we would encourage interested businesses to apply online now at www.skillsforgrowthsme.co.uk to avoid disappointment.”