We never stop learning whilst we are alive. Training courses give us an opportunity to learn from other people and to share our experiences. Training provides a supportive environment to help us improve our existing skills or learn new ones and to overcome any fears of learning we may have carried with us since school.
Subsidised training courses are available for the next few years through LandSkills South East which is the organisation that is responsible for the delivery of Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) training funds. The courses are given by Training Providers that have applied to, and been accepted by, LandSkills South East, in conjunction with SEEDA. (A number of training providers have chosen not to join LandSkills South East and will not be able to provide RDPE subsidised training although they may be delivering the same courses.)
The topic areas that may be of interest to the forestry sector include:
- Forestry and Woodland Management skills
- Business skills – including marketing
- Health & Safety and other Legislation related training (includes many machinery operation and maintenance courses)
This is an opportunity to use these funded courses to help you:
- make your business more profitable
- learn new woodland management skills
- market your products and services
- develop your business
- become more effective
- update your knowledge of the legislation relevant to your industry and therefore your legal obligations
As a general rule the SEEDA allocated subsidy rates are:
40% for Legislative / Health & Safety courses
55% for some machinery courses, e.g. telehandling
70% for Woodland skills & crafts and Business Management related courses
In order to be eligible for the discounted fees in the forestry sector, trainees must be engaged in a business, organisation or social enterprise which is dependent on woodland or utilises any woodland or forest products, for at least 50% of their working time.
Formally constituted groups or organisations that gather woodland workers for training will also be eligible for the RDPE discounts.
Use the Google map to see the locations and the contact details of the LandSkills South East training providers that offer courses relevant to the forestry sector.
There are several ways of finding a an RDPE funded training course:
- Download the forestry related training courses spreadsheet. This contains the courses offered by the various forestry related training providers. These providers are usually prepared to travel to give courses (cost permitting) at a location of your choice, as long as you can supply them with enough course members, otherwise you can join in with their standard courses. You can also negotiate with them to use a trainer of your choice, as long as the course is approved under LandSkills South East. Check their website to see whether the RDPE subsidised rate is shown or contact them for the latest course prices and availability. Refer to the Google map above for contact details.
- Contact your local funded training provider and ask them whether they offer RDPE funded training for the course you require.
- Search the Lantra Coursefinder page of the Lantra website for the name of the course that you want to attend. Check that the training provider is one of those shown on the map above and ask whether the course is funded by RDPE.
- To find out more about specific training requirements, contact the Programme Manager for Landskills South East, Shelley Newton. Her contact details are: Email: shelley.newton@lantra.co.uk , Tel: 01444 871436 Mob: 07500 991890 or email LandSkillsSE@lantra.co.uk . The Lantra LandSkills South East web page gives further information on RDPE funded training.
Once you have chosen your course, shop around to check whether you can get the training cheaper somewhere else (currently no comparison website exists!!!).
