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FM Skills National Training ConsortiumDated: 30/10/2008

FM Skills National Training Consortium

FM Skills is the National Training Consortium serving the Facilities Management Sector. This exciting new concept brings together training providers with FE to provide a single recognisable offer for training and qualifications (FM Skills).

The FM sector is the unsung hero of the British economy, it is the axle that keeps the wheels of industry and commerce turning, very quietly getting on with its job, but if that axle does not function to the highest standards consistently then it impacts on us all. It has over the past 2-3 years been very fluid. The way that its services are delivered has been changing both at delivery and global management. Infection scares and security threats are just two of the issues that the sector faces. The entire sector agrees that a more integrated service delivery is required to meet these demanding requirements.

A major constraint on many FM organisations to date has been in sourcing the breadth and depth of training expertise in an accessible, reliable and affordable package to meet their development needs. This is the exciting challenge that providers of training and development to the FM Sector must meet in order to support the sector in its thirst for the quality and range of skills required to support the dramatic growth of Facilities Management Services. The concept of FM Skills was designed to meet this challenge. FM Skills has been set up to ensure an integrated approach with national capability, consistently high standards, and access to potential funding streams. A pooling of resources and funding, and a sharing of knowledge enables the specialist providers within the partnership to provide “Integrated Training, Development & Skills for an Integrated FM Service”.

One of FM Skills’ primary responsibilities is providing and managing a range of learning services and funding streams to its 'customers', that is, the FM organisations and their people, employed within the industry. These learning services span the range from security and caretaking, through cleaning and catering, health and safety, plants, landscaping, to management, media and PR training. Providing a simpler route for FM employers to meet all their training needs will encourage greater take up of learning opportunities from both managers and operational staff. Employers who have already taken up training have found a benefit to their business of increased moral and a reduction in staff turnover which has allowed them a more stable workforce and so made them more competitive. Having the opportunity to provide supervisory qualifications to their primary staff also promotes aspiration and mobility within the workforce.

Employer engagement and demand led are two of the key watchwords with respect to the delivery of learning programmes that are responsible for the up-skilling of the UK workforce. At FM Skills we believe that the third key concept and the one that brings the first two together to provide real impact and step change, is the ability of provision to meet the demands and have a clear understanding of overall sector engagement. Overall sector engagement, allows the Government, the Skills Sector and the employer themselves, to have a clear strategic, joined up approach to ensure a real economic impact on UK plc. It reduces fragmentation, builds internal industry competition that relies on a commitment to learning and the development of a skilled workforce (Skills Pledge) to ensure that competitive edge is maintained. Our focus within FM Skills is to engage with the Facilities Management Sector (FM) to be part of the step change in skills and competitiveness for our economy and the sector.

The way the FM sector works has changed over recent years. From a starting point of single-purpose contracts (typically, maintenance, cleaning or security), each handled by a specialist supplier, the outsourcing concept has broadened over the years to encompass 'bundles' of services put in the hands of a multi-discipline contractor. More recently, some of the larger contractors have sought to bring diverse service lines together in 'integrated' packages, promising greater efficiencies and reduced management costs. In order to engage fully with FM, it became clear that Skills Sector had to change the way it approached the delivery of learning services. FM Skills has therefore created a mechanism for delivery that mirrors the changes that have taken place in the way that FM is engaged commercially. Currently the FM Skills partnership works with over 200 employers within the sector. Being at the heart of the sector will enable FM Skills to continue to adapt and change its approach as the sector moves forward; replicating the way in which the FM Sector itself operates and by doing so truly providing “Integrated Training, Development & Skills for an Integrated FM Service”.

See more information at FM Skills Online.


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