Purpose & Objectives

The apparel, footwear and textile sector has changed, and is still changing. Global markets, improved logistics and the removal of trade tariffs have both increased the level of competition, and opened up new opportunities.

To stay productive, competitive and profitable, employers are re-engineering their companies - doing things differently, or working in different ways. This means having to renew or develop the skills of employees, to adapt to changing circumstances. However, it is not always easy.

Suitable training may not exist, or may be hard to fit around work schedules. The financial risk involved in developing staff may be too high. The qualifications syllabus may no longer relate to what happens on the factory floor, making training irrelevant to working practice. Impartial advice on exactly what training is needed to make a difference to the bottom-line may be hard to find.

To stay productive, competitive and profitable, employers are re-engineering their companies - doing things differently, or working in different ways. This means having to renew or develop the skills of employees, to adapt to changing circumstances. However, it is not always easy.

To do this, Skillfast-UK aims to:

1.  Develop and broker a "Sector Skills Agreement" - a "deal" which brings employers together with funding agencies and learning providers to break down the key barriers to improving skills and training

2.  Transform learning supply, by helping the mainstream education system to understand employers' needs, and by developing constructive relationships between employers and institutions

3.  Ensure qualifications are fit-for-purpose.  If we are to use qualifications as as basis for training, then qualifications should reflect the way the industry works, and the skills employers need.  We intend to revise qualifications that are not fit-for-purpose, develop new qualifications where they are needed, and "delist" qualifications that are no longer relevant to the industry's needs.