A YEAR after its launch, almost 4,500 Kent and Medway employees - and the businesses they work for - have benefited from a new training scheme which aims to improve work-based skills.

Profit from Learning is a £8m initiative introduced by the Learning and Skills Council for Kent & Medway to build on employee skills through NVQ Level 2 and, in some cases, by improving essential skills.

In Kent 4,300 people are undertaking NVQ level 2 courses and a further 180 are following essential skills training, which resulted in the second best performance against targets of any Learning and Skills Council in the country.

Heather Gray, Profit from Learning project manager for the Learning and Skills Council for Kent & Medway, said: "We are absolutely delighted the reaction from Kent and Medway businesses has been so positive and that they have allowed staff time to invest in the business by improving their skills.

"In fact, we have been so successful we are playing host to a fact-finding mission by a Dublin-based organisation which is interested in learning more about the models we are using to facilitate work-based learning."

Around half of the referrals for the scheme came from training providers, but the Learning and Skills Council also ran an active marketing campaign in the region's media.

Profit from Learning was so popular last year that many employees have had to delay their training until this Autumn's intake, which looks like making the Learning and Skills Council's target of 5,000 for next year achievable.

Profit from Learning is available through the Learning and Skills Council for Kent & Medway in partnership with Business Link Kent. Businesses signing up for the scheme will be visited by a skills relationship manager who will advise on the type of training available.

For further information call the Profit from Learning team on 0800 528 2000.