GRANTS FOR EMPLOYERS IN ENGLAND

Leadership and Management Advisory Service Grants  

LMAS provides small grants across England to enable business leadership development.

Through LMAS, smaller businesses can apply for up to £1000 to develop leadership and management skills. This is a straightforward and accessible small grant scheme for business development.

EMB delivers this service across Central England on behalf of the Skills Funding Agency. Other local organisations are shown on the Business Link website.
You can download the LMAS Application Form from the LMAS site.

Funding Contributions
There is up to £1000 in grant funding to help pay for appropriate training. This excludes VAT and must be matched by applicant organisations on a 50/50 basis. So Total Costs can be up to £2000.

The grant can be used for wide range of activities. For example, it could contribute towards a personal business coach, advice to prepare for the Investors in People standard or training to help to manage employees.

The application form is straightforward. Though LMAS cannot accept direct applications from training providers such as colleges, these can refer clients to EMB or assist their application.

LMAS is available to private sector businesses or social enterprises with fewer than 250 full time equivalent employees and at least one employee in addition to the senior leader.

Who can receive funding
The funding recipient must be the Managing Director, Owner or Chief Executive if the business has less than 10 people. For companies with 10 to 249 people this person must report to the Managing Director, Owner or Chief Executive.

“New Challenges. New Chances” FE Reform Paper Extends Scheme  

On Thursday 01 December 2011, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills published a further Further Education and Vocational Training Reform paper. The following is from page 10:

“The Leadership and Management Advisory Service (LMAS) is a £20 million programme
offering support to up to 13,000 high growth SMEs and social enterprises in the 2011-12
financial year to help develop their management capability. In the 2012/13 academic year, LMAS will be aligned with Business Coaching for Growth and will form part of a package of support including: coaching of senior management teams; access to business and knowledge networks; and fast-track access to trusted sources of specialist advice such as the Technology Strategy Board and UKTI”.

Please see Important Grant News for latest details about Employer Ownership Pilots  
. As already announced, employers will be able to bid into a new £250m fund from early 2012 to help develop and ‘buy’ the vocational training they want.

GRANTS FOR EMPLOYERS IN SCOTLAND

Flexible Training Opportunities

Employers up to a maximum of 150 employees can make applications for up to £5000 towards employee training costs with Flexible Training Opportunities. The Flexible Training Opportunities scheme offers up to a 50% contribution towards training costs (excluding training required by legislation or statute, including Health and Safety or inhouse delivery)

The employer can apply for funding up to 10 claims per annum, up to a maximum of £500 per claim. For example, this means that for training costs of £1,200, there will be a grant of £500. Eligibility conditions are:

  • Employers with up to 150 employees
  • Must have registered by Sunday 21 March 2012
  • Must have completed training by 30th June 2012
  • An employer can apply for funding for up to 10 claims.

Low Carbon Skills Fund

Energy businesses working to support a low carbon economy can access the Low Carbon Skills Fund for training to increase expertise in this growth area. This is available to businesses focused on developing skills in carbon reduction, installing and using renewable energy resources, and increasing energy efficiency which have no more than 250 employees.

The Low Carbon Skills Fund gives Scottish businesses with up to 250 employees the opportunity to apply for up to £12,500 towards employee training costs. It

  • provides funding for up to 25 episodes of training
  • provides 50% of training costs, up to a maximum of £500 per episode

A list of the types and levels of training that are eligible for support, including:

  • renewable energy, low carbon technologies and microgeneration
  • energy efficiency, environmental and clean technologies
  • waste management and reuse
  • reducing carbon in supply and energy management