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Growth and Innovation Fund – overview and introduction

Update: The Growth and Innovation Fund Board met on the 20 March 2012 to make decisions on which projects to support from the recent round of applications. The Board agreed to invest in two proposals subject to full due diligence and agreement on costs. Full details of these investments will be publicised once an agreement has been reached. The Board also committed funding and/or support to 15 organisations to develop their proposals from the outline stage to a full proposal. Details of the proposals are attached below.

View details of the decisions from the 20 March 2012 GIF Board (PDF, 61 Kb) 

What is the Growth and Innovation Fund:

The Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) helps employers develop their own innovative skills solutions which have the potential to transform growth in their sector, region or supply chain.

The Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) helps employers develop their own innovative, sustainable skills solutions which have the potential to transform growth in their sector, region or supply chain. The skills and entrepreneurship of people up and down supply chains in different sectors of the economy can be a greater source of competitive advantage than ever before. It provides a mechanism for networks of employers to design skills solutions that meet a clear need. For example proposals can range from skills solutions for those entering the sector, increasing the uptake of apprenticeships to leadership and management solutions to support future growth of the economy.

Together, we need to do everything we can to bring enhanced skills to bear in the economy. GIF offers an opportunity for businesses to benefit from a powerful injection of public investment to support ideas that would not otherwise get off the ground. GIF will co-invest up to £34 million with employers in 2012-13, with comparable levels of investment planned for the following two years. £29m remains available in 2012-13 for new projects with the balance sustaining existing GIF projects.

Where employers get together to devise an innovative approach to boosting their investment in future skills needs, and can demonstrate that the approach is ultimately sustainable without ongoing public investment, GIF can invest alongside them in making that transformation happen as quickly as possible. GIF enables employers, with the support of their industry and sector bodies, to work within their supply chains, business clusters, with colleges and training providers and with their staff and trade unions, to remove the barriers they face in developing the skills they need and to make the most of opportunities for growth.

A variety of successful projects from our first round are already underway with employers and other partners working together to create the tailored solutions that will grow the skills businesses need. These solutions all have a realistic prospect of taking root, achieving a sustainable future with further public investment and making a positive impact on growth.

Following that first round, we have made several improvements to GIF to make it even more accessible to potential applicants. GIF is now open for business all year round, meaning proposals can be submitted whenever they arise and are ready to be considered for investment. Where proposals are identified as meriting GIF co-investment the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the Skills Funding Agency will be available to work alongside the applicant to ensure the projects have the very best chance of fulfilling their promise to make a significant impact on enterprise, jobs and growth.

Online guidance

All information regarding applying to the Fund is available on the website. Please use the links on the left to access the guidance. Alternatively you can download a copy, but you will still need to use the online eligibility checker and then request a word version of the application form.

Delivered in partnership with BIS and SFA

 

Ministerial Foreword

John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (jointly with the Department for Education)"I believe that having the right skills in place is a vital factor in ensuring competitiveness in our businesses and growth in our economy. Our fundamental approach to this has been both to free up colleges and skills providers to be more responsive to business, and to do all we can to encourage employer ownership of and investment in skills. GIF encapsulates this new approach we have brought to the skills system. It is there to help business achieve its growth potential, not by ongoing public subsidy but a shared investment in setting up what you as employers say you need to marshal the most effective and innovative development and delivery of skills.

The ever-growing contribution of apprenticeships at all levels lies at the heart of how we can equip our economy for future success. We have recently announced a range of enhancements and simplifications to the apprenticeships offer to help businesses, especially SMEs, to take advantage of what apprenticeships can bring. The way that employers themselves work together can also be a powerful way to overcome barriers to taking full advantage of apprenticeships. Coming together in a modern Guild, for example, can encompass a whole range of collective arrangements to promote apprenticeships; Group Training Associations and other innovative networks can bring together information and purchasing power in a way that businesses cannot manage on their own.

We want to be responsive to the solutions businesses identify as meeting their key skills challenges. This will not be confined to apprenticeships: although I am a passionate advocate of apprenticeships, I want to benefit from the full range of innovative ideas employers can bring forward. I am delighted that GIF is already supporting a wide range of projects which pick up on the particular challenges and opportunities before the employers involved. I urge you to follow the lead of this first wave of projects and devise new ways that you can work together to maximise your growth potential through skills. Where help is needed to get such arrangements off the ground, that is where GIF can come in.

I have asked the GIF Board to make sure it identifies good ideas to back at the earliest opportunity. The fund is open for business all year round and officials from the UK Commission and Skills Funding Agency will support applicant organisations as they develop projects, where the ideas show real promise. I am sure that you can rise to the challenge of bringing us ambitious, innovative and powerful ideas."

John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (jointly with the Department for Education)

Foreword from the Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Charlie Mayfield, Chairman UK Commission for Employment and Skills "GIF is a key part of a significant change in how we approach skills issues, with employer ownership at its heart. We are injecting concentrated investment alongside employers in projects that have the power to transform businesses’ growth potential.

I am delighted with the range of exciting projects already under way, where we are giving impetus to employers’ innovative ideas to drive competitiveness through skills. Together, we need to magnify that effort to meet the urgent need to support growth across our economy.

We have streamlined how the GIF works and I am confident that you will find it a truly responsive ally, with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the Skills Funding Agency working together to help you make real and lasting change."

Charlie Mayfield Chairman UK Commission for Employment and Skills