Go Forth Stirling’s free online training platform is providing a lifeline to the city’s small business owners giving them substantial savings on essential courses.
There have been more than 10,000 enrolments since the initiative was launched six years ago saving BID (Business Improvement District) members £323K overall – based on what it would cost to finance the courses themselves.
Fire Training and Alcohol Awareness are the most popular courses on the platform which includes food safety and alcohol licensing programmes aimed at the hospitality sector plus topics which benefit all businesses covering health & safety, safeguarding and GDPR.
The Alcohol Licensing Awareness for Scotland course is mandatory for all hospitality business staff who sell or serve alcohol and can prove costly for those companies.
It is a course frequently accessed by the team at popular Stirling venue Colessio which has saved more than £16K by using the BID’s training platform for courses over the past six years.
General Manager Lee Norris says: “The training platform is a great asset and I would endorse and recommend it to others in the hospitality trade locally.
“We mainly use it for the mandatory Alcohol Awareness training and put everybody through it who requires that training. It would cost us around £30 a course if we had to buy it in and, while I can also deliver it myself, it’s much better to have it done externally as then it is gold standard and we have proof of certification.
“We’ve really increased our use of the platform in the past couple of years and it’s a valuable service for us. It can be expensive to train staff well especially during lean times, so it’s great to have this lifeline available to us.”
Since the platform was launched, Colessio has saved £16,698 from using the service with 957 courses undertaken so far.
Meanwhile, since joining the programme a couple of years ago Emma McConnachie, who runs award-winning footcare practice Stirling Podiatry, has saved £2,405 and she and her team have undertaken 77 courses.
She has found the initiative an invaluable resource with staff studying options such as Introduction to the UK GDPR: Safeguarding Children: Health & Safety in Reception; Fire Training; Equality & Diversity and Bullying & Harassment in the Workplace.
She said: “We sign up to a core of annual training courses for front of house, admin and support staff and our contractors also complete them.
“The courses have meant a significant time and cost saving for me as I would have to buy them in or deliver them myself otherwise. Being able to get them as part of the BID is a worthwhile investment for us and we’ve been participating for a few years now.
“The format is easy to follow, and they give employees the chance to complete the courses at their own pace and in bite size chunks – because they are broken down into modules. And they come in both audio and written format which is helpful.”
Emma provides her staff with a list of the mandatory courses they should complete and suggests they select any additional courses which may be of interest too.
She says: “Once completed I can obtain certificates for my records which is useful as we need to produce evidence annually of completing mandatory courses. I also like the fact that staff can print off their own certificates as a record of their achievement.
“I’d advise fellow business owners to look and see what’s on offer. I initially thought the platform catered mainly to hospitality businesses before I realised there is an extensive range of courses which are useful for everyone.”
Since the platform was launched, there have been a total of 10,364 enrolments saving BID business owners £323,772 overall.
The most popular course is Fire Training for Businesses with a total of 769 enrolments followed by Alcohol Licensing Awareness for Scotland with 732 enrolments.
Go Forth launched the free online platform in 2020 to support Stirling’s business community by covering the cost of key training courses for staff.
Danielle McRorie-Smith, Project Director at Go Forth Stirling, said: “We’re delighted with the ongoing success of the training platform and the way business owners have really engaged with the variety of courses we offer.
“There will be a course which is useful for every business in the BID zone and I would encourage any levy payer who has yet to take advantage of the programme to check out the accredited courses on offer and see how much they might be able to save by using our free service.”
Details of the courses and how to access them are available on the Go Forth Stirling website – www.goforthstirling.co.uk/online-training
The training platform is among the many projects and initiatives established by Go Forth Stirling which supports more than 600 businesses in the BID zone with a key objective of increasing visitors to Stirling and devising campaigns to make the city a more welcoming destination for businesses and shoppers alike.
For more information visit www.goforthstirling.co.uk
