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Skills Academy wound up

[ December 3, 2013   //   ]

The National Skills Academy Logistics (NSAL) has been put into liquidation by its National Employer Board members (NEB), amid much controversy.

The NSAL was established to help employers meet legislative requirements and develop customised skills training solutions. Skills for Logistics provided support to the NEB as they worked with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to develop the future of the Academy.

However, the SFA was unhappy with the way that the NSAL executive team ran the Academy. Despite establishing a strong provider base, and the equally strong support and encouragement of the NEB members, engagement with the logistics industry was poor and the NSAL struggled to demonstrate that it could be sustainable.

The SFA did however invite the Academy’s NEB to resubmit an employer backed business plan in March, indicating that the NSAL would continue. In a statement, the Acadamy’s NEB said a great deal of work was carried out, supported by Skills for Logistics, to reshape the Academy, while working to continue with existing operations.

However, it said, the “SFA has continually missed deadlines in terms of decisions and response, which has elongated the process, despite continued expressions of support and substantial new business prospects. When they finally turned down the resubmission, the SFA did however say that they would support the development work that had taken place during the re-submission period.

“The SFA then changed their minds, twice, before finally confirming that there were no further funds available. There is no other alternative but to put the Academy into liquidation.”

It concluded: “The NEB, as a group of unpaid volunteers, have been let down by the SFA and we are unhappy with the way we have been treated. We strongly believe that the NSAL experience should be taken as a lesson to other employers who give their time to government based initiatives on a free and voluntary basis.”

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