Our friends at Serviced City Pads have been in touch with a fabulous opportunity to experience one of their great apartments over a fantastic weekend.

They have the Unity Penthouse apartment available for the long weekend of the Tall Ships and Open Golf around the Saturday 19 July. This 18/19 floor duplex has stunning views of the river and city below and would be idael for any companies that are either entertaining clients that weekend or are visiting Liverpool and needed somewhere extra special to stay.

You can find out more about the apartment here.

Take a look at some of the things happening over the weekend 18 - 20 July.

Continuing the epic tale of Liverpool Chamber’s Head of Membership Jenny Stewart’s preparation for September’s 5K Team Challenge…

Week Two

And what a weekend it was, between shopping at Liverpool One (for the smartest track pants you’ve ever seen…with a pink go faster stripe…) and sampling the yummiest restaurants that Liverpool has to offer, it was quite a shock to the system to realise that I had to get my running shoes out of the cupboard again on Sunday evening! But not to be deterred, we recommenced the training programme, increasing the number of running lamp posts and decreasing the number of walking lamp posts.

The distance to the top of the road is 4/10ths of a mile and with only three stops, I am definitely becoming a runner!  Turning round at the top of the road my sister persuaded me to slow the pace and just run without the lampost breaks, just to “see how far we could go”.  Some how I had obviously warmed up, and with only 2 lampposts to get back to the start, there was no point in stopping.  Rather, I needed to sprint!

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As an employer, are you aware of the funds available to upskill your workforce?

There is concern in the Government about the quality of skills among employees in the UK.  A recent report presented  by Lord Leitch indicates that the UK is languishing close to the bottom of the EC league for employed staff whom do not possess any form of qualification at NVQ level two and above.

The Learning & Skills Council are promoting the “Train To Gain” Fund to encourage all employers to assist with this initiative by offering 100% funding of a vocational qualification to level two for any employee who have not achieved grade “C” and above for GCSE  or any NVQ at level 2 or it’s equivalent.

Management are not exempt in this scheme, the offer is extended to managers, supervisors or team leaders to complete a level three or four management vocational qualification.

The Government has made it clear that if employers do not seize the initiative, they will force a bill through that will make it compulsory for the employer to ensure their employees are qualified to at least a level two NVQ and at the employer’s expense.

For further information on how Train to Gain can help your business contact Trident Training on 0151 227 1234.

Trident Training offers a range of apprenticeships for young people, as well as finding suitable candidates for employers offering apprenticeships.

Taking on a young person as an apprentice with your company has several benefits including an real investment in your workforce. In 2007, Old Hall Street creative and marketing company USP Creative took on Modern Apprentice, Mohamed Ali to work at the company and study for his Business Admin Level 2 NVQ.

During his time with USP Creative Mohamed has fulfilled the role of administrator as well as managing to achieve and gain certification of his Level 2 NVQ at the end of January this year.  Apart from the run of the mill admin duties associated with clerical work, Mohamed has also been able to get involved with the design team supporting their project work, as Kim Peters, Director puts it: “Mo’ is always very helpful and willing to get stuck in, he’s been a really good asset to the team.”

When asked about his ambitions for the future Mohamed replied: “I want to be a Managing Director of a company, possibly this one!”  From his time spent with Trident Mohamed feels he has gained much to improve his career, notably his knowledge of employment rules and regulations,which he intends to utilise in the future to achieve his goal of becoming a MD. He said: “I’ve learnt more about employment law and my rights, which I didn’t know before”.

Mohamed is a great example of the hard work, ambition and commitment offered by Trident’s apprentices. For more information about on apprenticeships for your company, call Lee Wainwright or Simon Chadwick  on 0151 227 1234.