Retail Recovery Programme set to go live

The Retail Recovery programme, which is fully funded through the Department for the Economy’s Flexible Skills Fund and Skills Focus programme, will kick-start with bespoke training this month through a series of webinars on support available, accessing finance and people management.

From September, all the colleges - Belfast Met, Northern Regional College, North West Regional College, South Eastern Regional College, Southern Regional College and South Western Regional College - will work in partnership with Retail NI to deliver a tailored technical masterclasses and retail skills-based training.

Highlighting the importance of the scheme to the retail sector and the local economy, Glyn Roberts, Chief Executive, Retail NI, said: “The retail sector has been under huge strain since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 and has only recently become fully operational again.

“Normal working practices have not been possible across the sector which is subject to continuous changes in restrictions.

“The face of retail has changed dramatically, and it is vitally important we support retail skills requirements with a co-ordinated approach from the FE colleges.”

Cheryl McNeill, Business Engagement Officer, Northern Regional College Engagement Team, continued: “This Retail Recovery Programme has been tailored to cater to the needs of all retail businesses within the College catchment areas.”

Encouraging local businesses to take advantage of this fully funded training opportunity and to sign up, she added: “All learning will delivered in manageable timescales around the needs of businesses and will offer the opportunity to build on existing skills and also to develop new ones.

“The programme offers accredited qualifications from Level 2 through to Level 5 and will include topics such as marketing, branding, digital and entrepreneurial skills alongside industry specific masterclasses.”

Visit bit.ly/CollegesRetailRecovery for full details or contact Cheryl McNeill [email protected]

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