It is not targeted at any particular qualification, but supports any skills intervention that will add value to the company bottom line and promote the development of women in the workforce.

Process and costs

As part of the Women and Work offer, employers are encouraged to identify the skills needs of their business and potential female candidates. This leads to a completed individual training plan or where the company identifies more than one beneficiary a company training plan. The plan(s) is submitted to Cogent for a compliance check and employers are notified of the maximum grant available for the activities. Key points for consideration include:

Employers must make a 50% contribution to the 'total' costs of training - including in kind costs such as mentoring and time off for training

• 15% of the total cost must be paid by the employer to a provider/accreditor of training or, other training delivery expenses
• In house training is eligible but must have an element of accreditation to aid future learner development
• Statutory training obligations are not supported

If you want to find out more about the Women and Work programme contact Julia Bennett.