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The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership skills team has announced that over £163,000 has been pledged in levy transfers since the launch of its new ‘Social Contract’ programme.
This was launched at the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards in May, with organisations such as Jacobs Douwe Egberts in Banbury and Oxford University pledging their unused funds to support the retention of skills within the county.
The Social Contract is a new £1.7m programme of activity that aims to address the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on health and wellbeing for individuals, local communities and businesses.
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The programme aims to support those experiencing unemployment to access employment, education and training, and provide support to Oxfordshire’s key business sectors, experiencing skills and labour shortages. Through the new programme, OxLEP Skills are working to support Apprenticeship levy-paying businesses in Oxfordshire to ‘Grow Your Own’ talent within the county and unlock their 25% unused levy funds, with a series of expert ‘Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Advisors’ on hand to offer support and advice.
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Launched in May, a core ambition of the Social Contract programme is to ensure that Apprenticeship Levy funds in Oxfordshire remain in the county, by supporting levy-paying businesses to pledge their unused funds to smaller businesses.
This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
