Skillset To Invest £1.2m

The industry body which supports skills and training for the UK creative industries will be injecting major investment into five priority areas over this financial year.
Skillset's TV Freelance Fund (TVFF) will spend almost £1.2 million on television training.
The TVFF is made up of voluntary contributions from the BBC, Channel 4, Five, the Indie Training Fund (via contributions from member companies), Sky and other cable and satellite companies, and is designed to invest in training for the entire television workforce.
The opening up of a global market, technological changes in how content is created and consumed and reduced commissioning budgets have all resulted in seismic shifts to traditional business models. Skillset argues that to remain competitive, both companies and individuals need to embrace new skills, techniques and business practices. Therefore, investment will be directed into five priority areas:

• Multiplatform: £300,000
• Management and Leadership: £300,000
• New Entrants: £300,000
• Craft and Technical: £50,000
• Health and Safety: £25,000

Administered by Skillset, the TVFF's spending priorities are determined by the TV Skills Council, which is made up of ten senior representatives from the UK television industry. These decisions are informed by Skillset's research into the skills needs of the industry, as well as the results of ongoing engagements with the industry.
The remaining £200,000 will be allocated to other schemes throughout the coming year, such as diversity-focused and online learning programmes.
Funding for all of the above programmes, with the exception of new entrants, and some diversity-focused schemes, will be distributed as bursaries, giving TV professionals greater flexibility in accessing the courses that suit them - at a time that suits them.
The TVFF's ongoing commitment to multiplatform training is based on considerable evidence that this continues to be a training priority for companies throughout the television industry.
There have been significant job losses in the TV industry, with a virtual freeze on new entrants recruitment by many major employers. Within the context of limited resources and employment opportunities, the TV Freelance Fund is seeking to support training courses for new entrants and professionals in junior roles, aligned with industry requirements by being across a full range of genres and disciplines, and targeted at skills required for cross platform content production.
Peter Dale, TV Skills Council Chair and Founder of independent production company, Rare Day, said: "We are incredibly proud of the creativity and resilience of our industry, and the aim of these funding programmes is to ensure we continue to entertain, innovate and educate at the highest standards well into the future."
(BMcN/GK)