COVID-19 – Update 30 April – Training for Furloughed Staff

Many businesses have taken advantage of the furlough/job retention grant scheme in order to reduce short term costs whilst they get to grips with the effects of the pandemic.

Whilst on furlough, employees are not allowed to do any work for (earning revenue or providing service to or on behalf of) their employer – nor are they allowed to volunteer to work for their employer whilst on furlough!

One thing that is allowed however is training. With even more courses available online, it is a great opportunity for employees to brush up on skills / catch up with required technical learning, and it will avoid unnecessary unproductive time after returning from furlough.

Many trade and industry bodies have opened up their learning resources e.g. CITB (https://builduk.org/news/2020/04/training-whilst-furloughed/) Or there are lots of online resources that are free to access or subscription e.g. Coursera, Skillshare, Khan Academy etc

On a broader level, the Department for Education has launched a Skills Toolkit to help people improve numeracy and digital skills training at home. The free courses range from digital marketing to coding, programming and social media, and are designed to boost employee skillsets or prospective employees’ job prospects as the nation (eventually) emerges from lockdown.

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