City & Guilds has announced the acquisition of Trade Skills 4U, one of the UK’’s leading training providers for electrical engineering, from private equity firm Palatine.
Established in 2005, Trade Skills 4U has helped over 90,000 individuals across all ages train and retrain in skills which lead to continuing work and careers. Trade Skills 4U delivers a wide range of training and assessment in the electrical sector including Skills Bootcamps, Apprenticeships and City & Guilds accredited qualifications. Courses are delivered via training centres across the country, including Gatwick, Leeds, Coventry and Warrington, and also via a range of online programmes.
Trade Skills 4U strengthens City & Guilds’ offer across engineering, construction, and transport, following the acquisition of rail training company Intertrain in November 2019. It also supports City & Guilds’ responsible business agenda, with Trade Skills 4U already delivering a suite of green skills training to support people in living and working more sustainably.
With significant skills gaps across the country, City & Guilds’ Great Jobs research published earlier this year revealed there will be 3.1 million essential job openings in industries including construction, engineering and transport in the next five years. There is substantial demand for skills development in these key industries to meet this demand.
The combined strengths of both City & Guilds and Trade Skills 4U should deliver electrical training that supports the workforce to ensure efficient and safe practice in homes, places of work and societies.
Kirstie Donnelly MBE, Chief Executive of City & Guilds, noted, “Trade Skills 4U is joining the City & Guilds community at a critical time as the UK grapples with severe skills shortages. Trade Skills 4U prides itself on inclusivity and removing barriers to work, ensuring individuals from all walks of life can access high quality skills training that leads to meaningful careers. This perfectly aligns to our City & Guilds purpose of helping people into jobs and by championing this together we can ensure that we are further providing opportunities and the skills needed to succeed.”
Carl Bennett, Founder & Chief Executive of Trade Skills 4U, added, “Together with City & Guilds it is our mission to support the delivery of electrical training in the UK. The data on skills shortages expected in coming years is alarming. So, as we rely more on our digital capability and the electrical system that powers it, we must make electrical training provision a priority. Although there is a lot to do, together we are part of the solution, and we will do all that we can to support our industry.”