free courses?

proevofanatik

i have been made redundant from my job. i have been given 1 months notice which i dont need to work through. so im getting paid untill 30th of september. and i get my redundancy pay and holiday pay etc. what i wantbto know is, are there any free courses i can do when im officially unemplyed? where do i go to find out about these free courses? i would really like to get my foot in the door of IT. im also a forklift driver. what options do i have?

simson3325

im being sent for level 1 warehouse degree,from jobcentre,you could try that, 3 weeks course,

kingfisherblue

All of the community centres in my town offer courses, many of which are free. ITQ, an IT qualification, is free at my local centre.

Some colleges may also have free courses.

You could also look at the Open University.

You will have to inform the job centre if you are attending a course, and they may have some rules that you have to follow - for example, I believe that you are limited to studying for a maximum number of hours per week.

saintjammyswine

There are 2 options open to you for funded training. They are both ESF (European Social Fund) and through local FE Colleges. They are:
1. Skills Support for Unemployed - name says it all!
2. Skills Support for Redundancy - for people who have been, or who are under threat of being made redundant.
The funding covers a huge range of courses from small intro sessions and non-accredited courses through to long courses.
Contact your local FE College and JCP who should have details although this is a very new round of funding so keep trying, they may not know yet!

1940sGal

proevofanatik wrote: »

i have been made redundant from my job. i have been given 1 months notice which i dont need to work through. so im getting paid untill 30th of september. and i get my redundancy pay and holiday pay etc. what i wantbto know is, are there any free courses i can do when im officially unemplyed? where do i go to find out about these free courses? i would really like to get my foot in the door of IT. im also a forklift driver. what options do i have?

If you sign on with the job centre, you could be eligible for free courses offered by your local college. BUT, the course has to be classed as part time and cannot go over a set amount of hours per week. Also, they usually ask that it is in something that would be beneficial to you finding employment.

saintjammyswine

1940sGal wrote: »

If you sign on with the job centre, you could be eligible for free courses offered by your local college. BUT, the course has to be classed as part time and cannot go over a set amount of hours per week. Also, they usually ask that it is in something that would be beneficial to you finding employment.

Not always with the new funding, it could be full time for a few weeks, depends on personal circumstances now. Much like the Sector Based Work Academies (previously Pre-Employment Training) for example training for 2 weeks followed by work experience. At lot in construction & hospitality at the moment.

1940sGal

saintjammyswine wrote: »

Not always with the new funding, it could be full time for a few weeks, depends on personal circumstances now. Much like the Sector Based Work Academies (previously Pre-Employment Training) for example training for 2 weeks followed by work experience. At lot in construction & hospitality at the moment.

I'm speaking from my experience as I spoke to an advisor last week at the jobcentre about it and what i've said is what she told me. I've signed up for a French course starting next month which lasts for 10 weeks. I was told it couldn't go over something like 16 hours in total, which includes college time and any independent study at home because obviously you still have to be job hunting at the same time.

saintjammyswine

1940sGal wrote: »

I'm speaking from my experience as I spoke to an advisor last week at the jobcentre about it and what i've said is what she told me. I've signed up for a French course starting next month which lasts for 10 weeks. I was told it couldn't go over something like 16 hours in total, which includes college time and any independent study at home because obviously you still have to be job hunting at the same time.

Thats what I mean by personal circumstances, it is down to the local advisors now, if a course is deemed likely to provide employment then they can attend for more than the 16 hours. One example is the Pre-Employment courses for Hospitality which runs over 2 weeks and is full time but provides the basic training needed to work in hospitality such as Food Safety etc.

EndlessStruggle

ITQ Level 1 and 2 are free on Vision2Learn, I've done my Level 2 with them. Both are free whether employed or unemployed and you can do from home on your computer, you just need the Microsoft Office. They also have some other courses on there.

proevofanatik

what does the ITQ give you? is it a sought after qualification?

kingfisherblue

The ITQ is a relatively new qualification. More details here:

http://www.e-skills.com/standards-and-qualifications/it-user-qualifications---itq/