Give your staff training to develop new skills

Climate Ready equips your business with the skills you need to respond to climate change and thrive in a low-carbon economy.

Climate Ready includes:

• training for your business on how to reduce energy waste, maximise cost savings, and protect the environment
• online courses for staff at all levels to develop sustainability awareness, knowledge, and best practices across key climate action topics, including the impact of climate change on Irish businesses
• a series of workshops for you as a business leader, delivered by industry experts, covering best practice on sustainability-related areas

Climate Ready is a Skillnet Ireland initiative.

Eligibility

Climate Ready and the Climate Ready Academy are designed for owner-managers, leadership teams and employees of private sector businesses across all industries in Ireland.

How your business can access Climate Ready supports

Learn more about Climate Ready.

Skills to Advance is a government-funded initiative that provides upskilling and reskilling opportunities to employees in jobs undergoing change and to those currently employed in vulnerable sectors.

Working closely with small and medium-sized enterprises, Skills to Advance also helps employers identify skills needs and invest in their workforce by providing subsidised education and training to staff.

For employers

Skills to Advance works for employers by helping to identify potential skills gaps in their business and adapt to market changes. We offer subsidised upskilling and reskilling options for staff, creating a straightforward way to help increase productivity and competitiveness in a fast-changing business sector.

Skills to Advance provides your workforce with training opportunities which:

• are flexible to fit around business hours and work schedules
• develop skills relevant to your business needs
• respond to the changing nature of jobs and skills

Courses are available in the following areas:

• leadership and management
• health and welfare
• business and administration
• services
• information and communication technologies (ICTs)
• engineering
• manufacturing
• construction

Costs

Skills to Advance courses are highly subsidised. Contact your local ETB to find out what you’re eligible for.

Skills to Advance is currently developing a range of new training initiatives to support employees and employers.

Find out more, including real-life examples of employers who have used the programme, and how it worked for them.

How to find out more

Visit www.skillstoadvance.ie.

Skillnet Ireland is a national business support agency that supports over 18,000 businesses nationwide and provides a wide range of valuable learning experiences to over 70,000 people.

Skillnet Ireland and its 70 Skillnet Business Networks help businesses develop their capacity to address key business challenges including increased digitisation and climate change. Skillnet Ireland’s mission is to help businesses in Ireland to be the best they can be, through innovative and enterprise-driven people development.

Each Skillnet Business Network is a collection of private-sector businesses that collaborate to address the business needs within their sector or region through talent development. Skillnet Business Networks are based in all regions of the country and most sectors, including ICT, retail, agri-food, medtech, technology, manufacturing, design, engineering, financial services, leisure, animation, private healthcare, media, aviation, construction plus many more.

The benefits of engaging with a Skillnet Business Network

With the support of Skillnet Ireland and its industry partners, Skillnet Business Networks work with business owners and managers to develop tailored training for your business where and when you need it.

Eligibility criteria

All private sector businesses of any size, including sole traders that are based in the Republic of Ireland are eligible to undertake part-funded training with Skillnet Ireland.

Applicants must also meet the specific entry criteria for the programme they apply for. The eligibility criteria for individual training programmes are available on the relevant Skillnet Business Network website.

Each Skillnet Business Network has its own website which lists the specific training programmes and supports that the network offers.

See a full list of Skillnet Business Networks.

MentorsWork is a Skillnet Ireland initiative and comprises of a free, structured, eight-week online business-support programme designed to provide small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) with expert business mentoring, skills and supports that will help them thrive by addressing their specific business needs. MentorsWork is delivered in partnership with the Small Firms Association and other industry partners.

Participating businesses are paired with a sector-specific mentor at the very beginning of the programme, who will work with them on a one-to-one basis throughout the eight weeks.

These expert mentors will:

• provide bespoke guidance, advice, and mentorship
• work with companies to create a bespoke business improvement plan to guide the business through the next six months
• help the business to select relevant and beneficial workshops and masterclasses from a range of options grouped under four thematic pillars of people, finance and growth, digital and automation and, business processes

Eligibility criteria

MentorsWork is available for SME owner-managers and leadership teams in private sector businesses, based in the Republic of Ireland, with between 5 and 250 employees.

How your business can apply for MentorsWork

Learn more about MentorsWork and submit your online application.

Employer Apprentice Grant

The new Employer Apprentice Grant is an annual grant to employers of €2,000 per apprentice. This grant is for apprenticeships that are not eligible for off-the-job training allowances.

Payment will be made to employers at twice a year. Employers will have to submit proof of apprentice registration and proof that they are still employing the apprentice at each point.

Example

An employer registers two apprentices in mid-February 2020. The employer:

• submits evidence of the registrations and the apprentices' retention for the mid-year payment point in June
• receives the portion of the grant for the February to June period, for each apprentice

If the employer keeps on the apprentices until the end of the year, they receive the portion of the grant for July to December, for each apprentice.

In 2023, if the employer keeps on the apprentices, they will continue to receive the grant for these apprentices, and any other eligible apprentices they employ.

Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme now closed

The new Employer Apprentice Grant replaces the Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme. The incentivisation scheme was a payment to all employers who registered apprentices between 1 March 2020 and 31 December 2021. This scheme was designed to support the recruitment of apprentices during the COVID-19 period.

Who pays the grant

SOLAS will process payments in 2022, before the system migrates in 2023 to the National Apprenticeship Office.

Regional Skills Fora

This is a nationwide network of nine Regional Skills Fora which seek to encourage stronger links between employers and the education and training sector. Find out more about how they work: www.regionalskills.ie

The Fora bring people from business and education together at local and regional level to identify employer’s skills needs, ensure that employers and businesses are linked in with the right educational resources to be able to access the skills training and supports they need.

Each Forum is led by a regionally based Regional Skills Forum Manager.

For help with addressing the skills needs of your business and your employees contact the Regional Skills Forum Manager in your area at: www.regionalskills.ie/contact-us/