£150k grant funding to boost local skills in the area

The grant is allocated across two years, between 2023 and 2025, supporting the College to deliver their ‘Boosting’ Programme in Newark and Sherwood. The initiative focuses on providing local employers with bespoke services, tools and resources to identify and implement organisational improvement opportunities, as well as aiming to support hundreds of employees through access to a variety of specialist training courses, helping to up-skill the workforce and encourage workplace progression.

The programme offers a range of support to local businesses, including access to team building activities, meeting facilities, online and face to face training courses for employees such as leadership, management, resilience and data training, as well as access to a variety of resources and analytics tools to help improve organisational performance.

Within the first half of programme, more than 70 individuals successfully completed courses through the project to help them progress within their career, gain relevant skills required and remain in local work.

In addition, 27 local employers benefited from specialist support across a range of industries such as retail, manufacturing, construction, and the technological sector, including small and micro employers up to large scale enterprises. Support will enable businesses to upgrade their organisational processes and adopt new technologies, as well as offer enhanced support to employees through addressing unique workplace training needs. 

This is just one of the many initiatives the District Council has helped to support in the last year to give local businesses a helping hand. Their Economic Growth team has worked with local businesses in various ways, such as advice, guidance and support. They offer services such as a free grant-finding service, a commercial property search service, and workshops on topics like cyber resilience, sustainability and finances. For me details about the support offered by Newark and Sherwood District Council, including details of the Business Support Hub visit our website, https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/your-business/business-information/business-growth-and-support/.

Councillor Claire Penny, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Economic Development at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “As a champion of worked-based learning myself, I really understand how important investing in our people is. That's one reason why we are proud to support Lincoln College and their Boosting Programme, which is a fantastic initiative that is supporting our local economy.

“The programme is providing essential support to local employers and helping them to overcome the challenges and opportunities presented by the changing economic landscape. The programme is also creating positive impacts for the local workforce, by enhancing their skills and career prospects.”

Penny Taylor MBE, Head of Newark Campuses at Lincoln College, said: “We are delighted to receive this grant funding from the District Council through UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which enables us to provide valuable support to local employers and their workforce in Newark and Sherwood. The Boosting programme is designed to help businesses grow and thrive by developing their skills, productivity, and performance. This allows the college to work alongside businesses as our mission is to be employer led supporting opportunities for them and for our students to work with local employers. We have already seen some great results from the programme and we look forward to working with more businesses in the area over the next two years.”

Team Leader at local employer Barcode Warehouse, Newark, described the support through the programme as excellent, stating that colleagues developed skills as a result of the funded training courses and a better understanding of effective leadership and techniques that will be taken forward within the business.

Support through the Boosting programme is currently available to local employers within Newark and Sherwood up until March 2025 and is subject to availability. For more information or to access support, please visit: BOOSTiNG Your Business (lincolncollege.ac.uk)