Port Talbot based skills academy who provide training for former steelworkers hit by funding cuts
A firm which provides employability and training service to people in Neath Port Talbot, including those impacted by the redundancies at Tata steelworks in Port Talbot, is facing redundancies due to funding cuts.
Through the UK Government's Multiply and Digital Skills programmes, from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Whitehead-Ross has helped 300 people from the Port Talbot area find work, including 100 directly connected to the steelworks and its supply chain.
But since the UK Government announced that the Multiply funding is ending, and with uncertainty about the future of the Digital Skills programme, the firm has started redundancy processes for six members of staff, five of whom are based in their Employment Academy in Aberavon.
CEO Ian Ross says the support his firm provides to people in Port Talbot is “in real jeopardy.”
Speaking in Questions to the First Minister, Plaid Cymru Member of Senedd for South Wales West, Sioned Williams MS, asked what work has been done to develop a new national employability programme to target economically inactive people who need help to be able to return to the workplace, following the end of Welsh Government’s own Employability Skills Programme in March 2023.
In response, the First Minister Eluned Morgan noted programmes currently available, including Communities for Work which helps people who face barriers to rejoining the employment market, and ReAct which is be available for people on notice of redundancy.
However, Mr Ross said that these schemes “barely scratch the surface”.
Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru Member of Senedd for South Wales West, said:
“Wales continues to have the highest rate of economic inactivity of any part of the UK, as well as the lowest employment rate.
“It's even more vital that people in Neath Port Talbot have an offer of tailored, community based support such as the courses being run at the Aberavon Employment Academy, alongside other courses available at local colleges, following the catastrophic job losses at Tata Steel.
“The model demonstrated by Whitehead-Ross is centred around the people who need it – tailoring courses to people who may feel more traditional skills programmes are not for them. What’s more, their training is provided right in the heart of the community that will be most impacted by the current economic situation in Port Talbot.
“It’s unconscionable to conclude that the current programmes the Welsh Government has in place are working.
“It’s incumbent on both the UK and the Welsh Government to ensure that funding for the additional training and education programmes provided by firms such as Whitehead-Ross is sustainable, so that people in the region I represent, including those most impacted by the economic effect of the job losses in Port Talbot, can be supported in every way possible to help them reskill and upskill.”
Ian Ross, CEO of Whitehead-Ross Education, said:
“In the Port Talbot area alone, Whitehead-Ross Education has supported over 300 people to retrain and build their skills in order to find employment. Now however, following the decision by the new UK Government, that support is in real jeopardy.
“Losing funding means we lose staff. Once we lose staff, it is hard to replace them, and the impact felt by the local community is significant.
“Schemes likes ReAct and Communities for Work barely scratch the surface in comparison to the UK Shared Property Fund cuts coming from UK Government.
“We understand each local authority area in Wales will lose between £4 million and £6 million; this UKSPF funding has been crucial to supporting people to re-train and re-skill, and its loss will significantly impact local economies.
“It is now crucial that Welsh Government use some of their extra £1.7 billion from UK Government to create a National Employability Programme for Wales, following the adult Employability Skills Programme ending in 2023.”
