High praise for free skills courses following redundancy

Robert Hewitt, 48, from Tamworth, was unemployed for three months after being one of 800 workers made redundant when LDV van makers closed the doors of their Birmingham factory in June 2009 and moved their operations to China. 2,000 people working for LDV’s suppliers also lost their jobs.

Robert said: “It all happened quite quickly really. We went on short time working in the December and closed in the June. The company had been hoping for a government handout that never came.

“I had been working in property repairs and maintenance there for 23 years and had a wife and five-year-old son to support at the time as well as two grown up children who, thankfully, were independent.”

Robert was helped through the North Staffordshire Workforce Development Programme run by trade union UNITY through the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership (NSRP).

The programme gave immediate and specific support to people facing redundancy in North Staffordshire, including funding free skills courses. Advantage West Midlands (AWM) contributed nearly £1.5million in funding and the programme was so successful it was run throughout the region by Unity under the name Better West Midlands.

The Programme ran workshops at the factory offering advice. “They came in and asked if they could help anybody and gave us a leaflet with the courses available. I went on the free plastering course and also did a property maintenance course. I worked for a while doing tiling and putting bathrooms in for people. I am now employed full-time back in factory and property maintenance," said Robert.

“The course was absolutely brilliant and the instructor superb. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I can’t praise it enough.”