Skills for Logistics has been awarded £1.14 million to deliver a transition programme from military to civilian logistics for up to 1,000 people leaving the armed forces.
The money is awarded under the third phase of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ Employer Investment Fund, or EIF3. Skills for Logistics is the sector skills council that promotes careers in the freight logistics and wholesaling industries in the UK.
Through its EIF3 funded Military Transitions to Logistics programme, SfL will provide a specific route into the sector for ex-Armed Forces personnel, principally through existing and newly established Local Logistics Community Networks (LLCNs).
Mick Jackson, CEO of Skills for Logistics, commented “The sector has a requirement for skilled labour, particularly to fill acute driver shortages. This labour exists within the Armed Forces but does not or cannot transfer effectively into civilian job roles. It is this market failure we seek to address.”
Of the 25,000 apprenticeships awarded in the logistics sector between August 2004 and July 2011, 12,000 were to apprentices in the Armed Forces.
Mr Jackson added “This solution will ensure these logistics skills transfer into the sector by providing service leavers – who already possess formal qualifications and relevant military experience – with necessary work experience, on-the-job training and formal interview feedback to better equip them for a career in the civilian world.
“This will add sector-specific value and provide a tailored pathway into the sector, in addition to the generic support provided through the existing resettlement programme operated through the Career Transition Partnership.”
Funded through the EIF3 fund, SfL’s strategy will see it develop information advice and guidance tools aimed at service leavers and their subsequent employers.
It will also develop a framework for work placements including employer-led and delivered civilian appropriate training for driving, warehouse, traffic office and logistics’ administrative roles. Finally SfL plans to establish one new LLCN to test the roll out of work placements including on-the-job training, guaranteed interviews and feedback and deliver the same in existing LLCNs.
SfL says the logistics sector is worth £74.45bn to the UK economy and the 196,000 companies operating in the sector employ one in 12 of all employed people in the UK.
