Funding to Support Humber Training Provider Increases Learning Capacity by 100%
Team Lincolnshire ambassador CATCH is the first training provider to be awarded funding as part of the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board’s £1 million investment in Regional Skills Hubs.
The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) has awarded CATCH £300,000 to help upgrade its existing welding, pipefitting and electrical training facilities in Stallingborough near Grimsby.
The upgrade is part of a joint venture with industry to increase learning capacity at the training centre by 100% over the next two years, as part of a broader Humber Skills Plan to increase training output by 1000% by 2029.
The ECITB’s £1 million investment in Regional Skills Hubs is designed to boost training provider capacity and grow new entrant numbers in the ‘Industrial Cluster’ hot spots and other major engineering construction industry (ECI) centres of activity which will be at the heart of the UK’s decarbonisation agenda.
ECITB Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said:
“The ECITB is delighted to support CATCH as it continues to develop a pipeline of trained, skilled workers for major engineering construction projects in the Humber region. We know from the Labour Forecasting Tool, launched in December, that the labour demand gap for new workers in the engineering construction industry will get wider with an estimated shortfall of 40,000 workers by 2028.
“The Regional Skills Hub grant is targeted specifically on capacity-building projects in the UK’s industrial heartlands that will directly increase the flow of workers into the industry."
David Talbot, Chief Executive at CATCH, said:
“This £300,000 funding from the ECITB marks a significant milestone for CATCH.
“It secures the transformation of our training facilities in Stallingborough, as we move towards our goal of increasing our learning capacity by 100% this year as part of scaling up the number of new entrants to industry to create the workforce that is required for our region to build net zero infrastructure.
“As we embark on this exciting journey, we are extremely grateful for the support of our industry partners and the ECITB, aligning with our vision to provide a pipeline of skilled workers for the Humber region’s engineering construction projects.”
Paul Fursey, UK Lead Executive and General Manager Humber Refinery at Phillips 66 Limited, said:
“Year after year we are seeing a drop in skilled labour, and it is vital we act now. CATCH is a great example of how industry and public bodies can come together to combat this.”
The ECITB is keen to work with more clients, contractors and training providers across the six major industrial cluster regions to invest in growing the number of skilled workers needed for other major decarbonisation projects. Find out more information and read the article in full here.