Helping hand for local businesses wanting to 'swap skills' during lockdown

The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership's Skills and Employment Hub has launched the Lancashire Skills Swap service to support the local business community during the coronavirus pandemic.

The idea is to help businesses who are looking for people or volunteers, want to train their staff or want to offer people with knowledge and expertise to work for another business.

Businesses can access this support by visiting the Lancashire Skills Swap page and registering their details. Opportunities are posted on the Skills Swap Noticeboard so you can easily see what is needed and what is on offer.

The Skills Swap team are on hand supporting people and businesses to link up with each other and swap skills, as well as to help businesses access training for current staff, and for furloughed staff in preparation for the future.

• You may want to reach a wider audience with your staff recruitment needs.

• You may want to offer your organisation's skills and expertise to others.

• This could be the right time to take advantage of funded training for your staff, including those that are furloughed.

• You may want to encourage your furloughed staff to consider volunteering.

Steve Fogg, chairman of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership: "At this time more than ever, the skills needs of all businesses are changing rapidly. There are now huge skills demands in certain sectors and a supply of people who are not currently working from other sectors.

“We saw that there was no single place for Lancashire's business community to communicate opportunities and needs for addressing the skills needs of Lancashire. This service is here to help."

Lancashire County Council has registered on Skills Swap as it needs to recruit more paid carers to care for the most vulnerable residents across Lancashire.

You can access the Lancashire Skills Swap by visiting www.lancashireskillshub.co.uk/skills-swap/ or contact the team by emailing [email protected]

The Lancashire Skills Swap is part of the wider #AskForHelp campaign led by Boost, Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, which has a dedicated Hub offering the latest government and partner advice, information and support to Lancashire's business community.