Help with a course? who can we ask?

RustyFlange

Hi there, not sure if I have posted this in the right place or if it needed to be in the benefits part? (benefits and tax credits)

My OH was made redundant in 5th Jan 09, and has been actively seeking work since then and also had regular interviews, however he only put in a claim for benefits in Beginning of April. Anyway to cut a long story short a lot of the jobs in his course of work always ask the question if he has done his offshore survival, which he hasn't as he has always been lucky and managed to work onshore on sites. However now that the inevitable has happened and he is now seeking work this offshore survival course would obviously be more beneficial in the future and also for finding work now.

So what I am wondering is if there is anyone out there who we could ask for help to do the Offshore training course? It would involve 1 medical at roughly £160-£170 and then the actual offshore course itself which is approx £660 so would be not far off £800 to do this course. Now obviously we are on a very low income as I do work although only 4 hours a week so my wages are knocked off our benefits and we have a huge hefty mortgage aswell as other monthly expenses (bills, debts etc)

Having not been on the dole for over 17 years my OH hasn't got a clue how it all works, and I was under the impression that there may be some help available from somewhere with training courses to try and get him back into work?

Is this the case or did I manage to dream it all up in fairytale land?

Any help would be gratefully recieved.

Thanking you muchly

roxy84

Hi, i cant really help with getting help for fees but i know you can get help sometimes for college courses but not sure about offshore, my oh's mate asked this as his certificate expired while he was unemployed and they said no, he would have to do something else for a job or pay for it himself.

What work does he do? My oh is a plater metal fab and has worked offshore for a while but there isnt much work out there at all at the minute, hes on the books for all the big firms and they are all saying they have nothing. So it may be a waste of time doing it at the minute, my oh was lucky enough to get a well paid job when he left offshore but its only temp til july so we will be back in the same boat again

leelee24

Hi there,

You could ask your other half to contact Working Links as I understand it they can offer support to help people back into work, including some financial assistance for training. I don't have experience of them myself, I found out about them from my job in education as one of our students was given £500 towards further training so it might be worth a go. Sorry, I can't post links but if you google working links you should find them.

Good luck!

RustyFlange

Hi thankyou for the replies, OH is having a look at the working links website as I type.

Roxy, my OH is a instrument designer/engineer and last year was working in essex at coryton refinery and then Lyndsay refinery. Hope things sort out for your OH.

Thankyou again for the replies.
Tams