Online Skills Platform to launch in September

Skills-Third Sector is developing a website where charitable organisations can purchase training from providers and share their experiences, with the launch planned for September.

The Skills Platform, which is being developed with a two-year £1million investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, had a consultation in early 2012 and will now go through its final design process during the summer.

The platform will be run and regulated by Skills-Third Sector, with the organisation currently looking to contract with an IT agency for the build of the platform.

It will include user reviews as well as a number of other quality indicators that will help to inform purchasing decisions, such as whether the provider is NCVO approved.

A condition of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ £1million funding, given through its Growth and Innovation Fund, is that the after the two years the platform will be sustainable and self-funding, via the percentage Skills-Third Sector will receive from training providers who sell through it.