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The Progress Group helps 8 young people secure employment through Kickstart Scheme

The Progress Group has helped 8 young people secure employment across the Group through the Government’s Kickstart Scheme.

The scheme provides funding to employers to help create jobs for young people aged 16 – 24, who access Universal Credit, and are at risk of long-term unemployment.

Through a group-wide initiative, the education and training specialists set a goal of helping young people access employment through the scheme. The Progress Group worked with Liverpool-based marketing agency, Jayne Moore Media, and Job Centre Plus (JCP) to identify potential candidates for the scheme.

Learners who were suitable for the scheme were then signposted onto the industry-led training provided by one of TPG’s subsidiaries, Innovative Alliance (IA).

Initially, learners attended an attraction day before completing a two-week customer service training course with one of IA’s expert trainers. During the second week of the industry-led training, learners were offered the opportunity to interview for one of the roles available across the Group.

Through industry-specific training, Innovative Alliance worked in partnership with employers and the JCP to identify individuals who best met the needs of the employers. IA handles all the pre-employment training and helps prepare learners for their interviews at the end of the course. Managing Director for Innovative Alliance, Ian Green said;

‘’Our industry-led training programmes allow us to provide effective recruitment solutions for employers, ensuring individuals support the needs of the business. In this case, we acted as the employer and the training provider, which helped us to ensure the training provided to individuals placed them in the best possible position to secure employment.’’

“I am delighted to welcome on board three new starters for Innovative Alliance, and one for Complete Training Solutions, along with the additional candidates across the Group. I look forward to seeing what they can achieve during their time with us.’’

Following on from the success of the initiative, The Progress Group has applied for a further three kickstart positions to work across the Group. CEO of The Progress Group, Jayne Worthington said;

‘’I am thrilled with the success of the initiative to date and am delighted to welcome eight new additions to The Progress Group family.’’

‘’The Kickstart Scheme is the perfect opportunity for us as employers to help support young people in accessing quality employment opportunities during this difficult time. The scheme epitomises what we are all about, which is to change lives through the power of education and training.’’

Matthew Rimmer was one of the individuals who joined Complete Training Solutions as part of the kickstart scheme. Matthew said;

‘’After losing my job due to the pandemic, I returned to Liverpool seeking another job. I was first made aware of the role from my work coach at the Job Centre Plus who advised me I met the criteria to be considered for the scheme.’’

‘’The role was the perfect opportunity for me. The working atmosphere is great and full of friendly and helpful people. I am enjoying my role and have recently been promoted to Business Manager. I love that there is a strong collaboration between all The Progress Group’s subsidiaries, it feels like one big family.’’

All eight individuals who secured employment as part of the scheme have already begun working across the Group. Roles include a Junior Data Analyst, Call Centre Advisers, Junior Graphic Designer, and Administrative Assistants.on are currently graded ‘Good.’

Adult Education · Positive outcomes · Skills agenda

Innovative Alliance announce a partnership with Job Centre and Stafforce

National education and training specialists, The Progress Group, have recently acquired the multiple award-winning learntech provider, Grey Matter Learning. The provider, who is dedicated to the health and social care industry, is a leading eLearning provider, having recently been named “2021’s Most Outstanding eLearning Provider of the Year for Social Care Services in the United Kingdom” by CEO Monthly Magazine and “Leading Provider of Social Care eLearning 2020” by the Southern Enterprise Awards.

Grey Matter Learning is the latest addition to The Progress Group, which already includes five education and training providers. Collectively, the group works with individuals aged 8 – 60 across their national alternative education provision, careers education, advice and guidance, and adult skills training. Their skills training spans several sectors including renewable energy, construction, health, and social care, and warehousing and storage.

The addition of Grey Matter Learning will not only further enhance the existing delivery of the Group, but also help to further drive the company’s digital learning capabilities.

Talking of the acquisition, Group CEO Jayne Worthington said;

“We are delighted to welcome Grey Matter Learning and its team to The Progress Group. Grey Matter Learning is very well established as a provider of eLearning across the UK, and I am really looking forward to not only growing this business nationally, but also deploying some of its best practice and eLearning expertise across our Group. This will significantly enhance our existing eLearning provision, ultimately helping us to help more people.

“Similar to us, Grey Matter has a mission to improve lives through learning, and place people at the heart of their provision. This ethos and approach were the perfect fit for our Group, which has a clear purpose, to change lives through the power of education. When we first met the team at Grey Matter Learning, I instantly knew that they would be a brilliant fit for our Group, and that they would really bring another element of expertise to our existing provision.”

Sarah Knapp, Grey Matter Learning Managing Director and founder said;

“Everyone at Grey Matter Learning is hugely excited by the opportunities that working with The Progress Group will bring for the team, our clients and partners. Whilst we remain firmly committed to the social care sector, we have already been working on successful projects in other sectors. From an L&D background, it has always been my passion to create interesting and fun eLearning that holds the attention of the learner whilst inspiring desired results. It can be pretty challenging when dealing with such difficult subjects, particularly during such tough times.

Since launching our upgraded system, Click, a year ago, we have had incredible feedback and won 2 major awards. People simply love our content. I often wonder how many eLearning providers can confidently say that their learners are excited by the courses and are having fun competing with colleagues because they are enjoying their learning experiences. Just this week one of our local authority L&D Managers said: “The Click content was so rich and engaging that I changed my work plans in order to complete the course”. It is so heartwarming to know we are making a difference and I believe this new partnership can only bring greater innovation and more lives improved through learning.”

Grey Matter Learning, which was formed in 2006, works with multiple local authorities, many of whom for 14 years as well as social care providers. This includes AgeUK, Dimensions, Autism Together, Bluebird Care, Mencap, Camphill Village Trust, Milestones Trust, and the Guinness Partnership. Their eLearning platform, Click, has been shown to significantly boost a company’s productivity, providing £30 worth of increased productivity for every £1 invested in online training. It’s this impressive impact which has seen the company flourish over the last 14 years.

To find out more about The Progress Group, visit their website.