thumperrabbit Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Just wondered if anyone has to pay for mandatory courses? We have been really lucky up until now ours have been free, but our Safeguarding children level 2 has all of a sudden become a paid course costing us £75 each and we have to send 2 people on it. Could this be the future do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Could this be the future do you think? Most definitely - Local Authorities have had the ability to charge for certain training courses for some time (might have come in as part of the Childcare Act, but I can't be sure). Ours cost £30 each, mostly. Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 Not good news then Maz for playgroups?! What with our funding going down and now payment for courses, I feel they are 'out to get us'! Do you think we should start 'putting a little aside' each month if we can afford? Do you have to pay for courses run by your 'Teaching Advisors' too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narnia Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 we haven't paid for anything up till now, but the new set of courses from our LEA are all being charged at £30 each person. I can understand why they're doing this, but it will make them unaffordable to us. Statutory training, such as SENCO has been cancelled and they are now going to 'deliver it to us personally at our settings', so in practice, area senco will call in as usual, ask if we have any problems and if not, will go away again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I allow some in the budget for training. If courses are free, then this can go to paying staff extra non-contact time at the end of the year, or carried into the following year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Our CPD-type training workshops continue to be free, its just some of the mandatory stuff such as food hygiene, health and safety and the business support ones that our LA charges for. I'm not sure I agree that they are out to get us though - it must cost a fortune to provide the termly training programme and with the cuts being announced in everyone's budgets I think more and more LAs will be making charges of this kind in future. Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 I'm not sure I agree that they are out to get us though - it must cost a fortune to provide the termly training programme and with the cuts being announced in everyone's budgets I think more and more LAs will be making charges of this kind in future. Maz No I'm sure they aren't, it's just at the moment it feels like it to us. We have had to increase our fees by a huge amount (for us) for September and this has put some people off starting, we have filled all our places (just) but times are geting tougher We all are feeling it's the beginning of the end at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 the LA i work for is going to start charging £10 per course from September Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenimouse Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Most of the courses were £10, but LA are now charging £50 for first aid. We have a new member of staff and 2 who need to refresh, so £150! This is a lot for a charity to pay out. Jenimouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tink69 Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Same here in my area, they are charging for some courses but safeguarding and first aid are still free. The actual training available has been drastically cut. Tink69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Most of the courses were £10, but LA are now charging £50 for first aid. We have had to pay for first aid courses for some time now. £50 a head is very cheap! Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 yes happy maz we paid £80+ for the last lot (although i insist that all my staff do full 12 hours) we also pay the LA if we cancel without notice!I am starting to look for more online courses so that i do not have to release staff for a full day/pay them and pay for a course too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredbear Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 We have always had to pay for first aid, this is a must for all my staff that work directly with the children to have at a cost of £5O each.Training is built into our annual budget but getting tougher. Having to be more selective as to which courses are essential as opposed to that looks an interesting one to do. Hey ho times are challenging and we need to be more creative with our money something us in early years are very good at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueJ Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Our courses were pretty much free on a one person per setting basis - however now that we have a quality supplement with the SFF our courses are on a paid basis with the exception of health and safety, safeguarding and first aid where we can nominate two staff members to have responsibility and therefore training for free. As I pay my staff to attend courses it will have a sizeable budget impact to pay for the courses as well and on things like first aid and safeguarding I like to have everyone trained up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddlermaddness Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 As I pay my staff to attend courses it will have a sizeable budget impact to pay for the courses as well and on things like first aid and safeguarding I like to have everyone trained up. Hello You have put that you pay staff to attend courses, but what happens if they leave after the course? You have paid for the course and paid them to go! do you have a clause in the contracts? Ta xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 do you have a clause in the contracts? I don't at present - but I'm thinking about it. Lots of our more desirable courses are now charged for by the Local Authority, which can be very expensive when you take into account the cost of salary for the person doing the course and for the person covering the person doing the course. I'd be interested to hear what other people have in their contracts - do they ask staff to pay the costs for attending a course if they leave within a period of doing the course and if so, how long is that period? Six months? Three months? I've just thought of one benefit - if this clause was in my contract I'd think twice about applying to go on training if I was applying for other jobs! Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gezabel Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Yes we have a clause in our contracts and I think it is very fair: Can't remember the exact wording but for first aid training which is valid for 3 years if a member of staff leaves within 12-24 months of completing training they pay back a proportion of the fees. Leave within the first year and pay back 2 thirds of cost, leave within the second year of training and pay back one third. On a pesonal level I would prefer to pay for my own courses - it's CPD and not something I can leave behind if I left. When I did my SENCO training the sessions fell on days I did not work and I did not see why my employer should pay me wages for those days. Likewise when I attend training within working hours I do not get any stoppage of wages - it works both ways Sorry if this is garbled it's been a loooooooongggg day today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyfs1966 Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Our first aid course is now £100 per person, food hygiene £50 and risk assessment £50, and those are just the one's I have signed up for so far this term. It makes being a small setting very un cost effective as we are all required to do the same mandatory training whether a 20 place setting or 200 place setting. Perhaps that's the problem...us small community settings are not the preferred model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SamG Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 (edited) I've just renewed my first aid certificate over the summer through Lancashire County Council. 2 full days on a Saturday at a cost of £15 The company I work for were going to run it and as an employee I would have needed to pay £75, they charge £150 for non employees! Most of our LA courses are £15 and have been for the last 4 years. Edited September 21, 2010 by SamG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2010 Share Posted September 22, 2010 We still have our courses for free at the moment in kent, including Senco ones and safe guarding i think though that as mentioned in needs to be incorporated into your budget so maybe your fees need to go up and maybe sending the right people on the course who can then through in-house training relay the training back to the rest of the staff. Also keep hounding the head of your early years with letters and emails re training and paying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueJ Posted September 22, 2010 Share Posted September 22, 2010 I do not have a clause in the staff contract because by and large i consider short courses with reasonable fees to be business expenses (after all i need the staff to hold the relevant qualifications and certificates) - however I have two staff who are about to embark on the new level 3 diploma and have to pay course top up fees which are quite significant. I have advised both staff that in the event of them leaving within 12 calendar months of completing the diploma i will claw back the shortfall fees (via their final salaries) that we have paid. It has all been done v. politely and amicably and backed up in a letter and both staff have signed to say that they agree to this condition so hopefully that is covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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