The Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) has developed a new online training platform which is designed to provide learning and development support to individuals working in the highways sector.
LCRIG Skills will support individuals professional development by:
- Bringing together a range of training from recognised providers in the highways sector.
- Providing access to sector specific training that can be delivered in person, online or through on demand videos.
- Supporting an individual’s training journey by recommending courses that are relevant to job roles and areas of interest or expertise.
- Creating a CPD record when individuals take part in and log training through LCRIG Skills.
LCRIG was awarded funding by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund to develop the online platform in order to help address the skills shortage in the sector and to support individuals at all stages in their career, including students and graduates looking to join the sector.
Chairman of the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund Trustees, David Tarrant said: “At the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund we believe roads really matter to all of us, whether we’re making journeys as drivers, passengers, pedestrians or cyclists. The professionalism, knowledge and expertise of those working in the highways sector is therefore vital to ensure that roads work well for everyone. We are keen to continue the life work of William Rees Jeffreys by supporting people working on today’s highways to have access to high quality professional education. The Fund is pleased to have provided a grant for this new training platform and hope it will enhance both the training available to people and their ability to build their professional skills.”
The platform is focused on providing high quality training in a cost-effective manner. LCRIG is working with a number of industry bodies including the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) to develop and make available the latest courses and training.
LCRIG Board Member Dwayne Lowe said: “My role on the LCRIG Board is to represent people. I have a brief to provide oversight and report upon building a support network of people around the organisation and to develop entry into the sector for internships, traineeships, and apprenticeships. LCRIG Skills was developed to address the skills shortage within our sector and the challenges our council members have highlighted that they face in relation to managing and organising training and refresher courses for staff members. The issues include finding relevant courses, having enough people to send on a course to make it cost effective, time lost waiting for course spaces locally and the time it takes to book courses. The LCRIG Skills platform will deliver upon those responsibilities and more.”
Users of the platform will be able to access details of training courses that are relevant to the sector, including details of training location, dates, and the number of places available on the course. With the facility to book places on the course through the LCRIG platform.
Details of trainers, consultants and supply chain partners who can deliver training will also be made available along with the availability to request specific training from the register of training providers on the platform.
The platform will build relevant training plans for individuals, and provide a central place for demonstrating evidence of completed courses. Individuals will have access to their own training plans, with managers being able to see the full overview of their organisation. Alerts will be sent to individuals and managers when refresher courses are due.
LCRIG will continue to develop the platform and skills offering over time, with a focus on building more content and also promoting apprenticeship training courses that are relevant to the sector, with links to local training providers.
All LCRIG-led webinars are available to watch on-demand via the platform – covering several areas including net zero, road markings, data, safety inspections and electric vehicles.
In addition to the above, the platform will allow training courses to be delivered virtually either by LCRIG or by other training providers.
You can access the platform by visiting www.lcrig.org.uk/skills
Contact us to find out how to access training courses, or how to promote your own training through LCRIG Skills.