Business Membership

Save, Develop and Improve: A training support package designed by experts across the food and drink industry.

The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink is a single source of training for the food and drink sector. We’re the industry experts with the experience and sector expertise to ensure businesses get the skills and training they need. But it’s businesses just like yours that really understand what they want from a training partner.

Created by the experts in conjunction with the industry
So after speaking at length to businesses across the whole of the food and drink manufacturing industry, we’ve come up with an exciting new package that delivers everything they’ve asked for…

Members can join our group

Request access
Member login
The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink is a single source of training for the food and drink sector.

Business Membership

Save

Our members save time and money. We’ll not only give you free and heavily discounted training, and ensure you get the best value for your budget, we’ll also find you the perfect courses first time – so you can focus on your other jobs.

Online learning from the experts

We’ve selected the best e-learning available, specifically relevant to the food and drink industry, and put it all in one place – our Online Academy.

Members can access the whole catalogue of programmes with a choice of options. The Online Academy is web based, so we’ll take care of all the hosting, you just need to give staff access to the internet. This allows flexible, anytime, anyplace learning (they can even learn from home!).

You choose how this works:

Option 1 – Buy courses as you need them with a 20% member’s discount

This option lets you pay as you go for courses when you need them, with a charge for each course taken by each individual member of staff – and as a member you’ll receive a 20% discount on all course costs.

Option 2 – Support to develop your own company-branded Online Academy

As a member you are able to take our existing Online Academy and build your own around it. Costs depend on the extent of modification required. Contact us to find out more.

  • Create your company’s own tailored Online Academy, reflecting your branding
  • Enjoy access to the full range of current online learning, selected and approved by The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink
  • Buy courses in bulk packages at a hugely discounted rate
  • Have a record of who’s done what and when, providing auditable evidence of your staff’s compliance learning – and save time and admin costs
  • If you have your own online learning you can add these courses into the Online Academy

Independent advice on funding
Are you accessing the maximum funding you can? If there’s money out there that your business is entitled to, we’ll help you get it.

Take a compliance training healthcheck

We may not be able to help your business increase its training budget but our experts can make sure you’re making the most of what you do have.

A 1-day healthcheck from one of our experienced skills consultants could help you save on your compulsory compliance training, so you can spend more on the training that makes your staff more competent and your business more competitive.

We really are the experts at this and can give you independent advice on how to get the best value for money. With up-to-date access to the costs of compliance training from providers across the UK, we can easily identify whether there are opportunities for you to save money.

We’ll help you find the right training providers

Our specialist skills consultants will take the time to fully assess what your business needs, then match those needs to courses and qualifications provided by our network of accredited training partners around the UK.

We’ll do the hard work for you

Our consultants have the knowledge and expertise to identify what skills will make your workforce more productive, more efficient and more profitable. We’ll then guide you to exactly the right training specialist – providing you with an absolute assurance of quality while saving you time, money and hassle.

Our network of training providers

Our training providers range from prestigious universities and colleges to expert consultancies and trainers. Each one has been rigorously vetted to ensure they have the right industry experience, capabilities and capacity to ensure courses and flexible study programmes deliver real, tangible bottom line benefits for your business – whether they’re delivered on the job, in the classroom or both.

There are 1000s of training providers out there – but very few with real food manufacturing experience. We can show you which ones match your needs and have the proven track record of delivering exactly what you’re looking for.

Develop

We’re the experts when it comes to learning within the food and drink industry, and becoming a member is about taking things to the next level. It’s about appreciating the direct link between the skills within your business and the efficiency, productivity and profitability it can achieve.

What’s included?

  • 2-days’ free training
  • All the resources they’ll need
  • Ongoing helpline and support

 

Included within your Membership package is the chance to develop Ambassadors for the industry and your business, forming part of a network of Tasty Careers Ambassadors that will visit local schools.

This is a fantastic opportunity for both the Ambassador and your business. And we know that many companies struggle to engage with local schools but this ‘official’ programme is a rare chance to engage with the next generation of talent, first hand – promoting the career opportunities within your specific sector and recruiting for your own business.

Even if you already have some form of link with schools in your area, Tasty Careers is an industry-wide, industry-approved programme that could really open up some doors for your business. Plus, Tasty Careers can also form part of your management training programme and is good for ticking your Corporate Social Responsibility box.

Every year you’ll receive 3 classes completely free and save 30% on all other courses.

 

As a member you’ll be able to take advantage of a series of specialist development workshops, specifically aimed at helping HR and learning & development managers improve their skills.

Workshops are developed using our specialist knowledge and expertise, and by studying the best practices of leaders within the industry.

Choose from a varied list of workshops led by food and drink industry experts, including:

  • How to implement successful apprenticeship training
  • How to become a learning & development hero
  • How to increase productivity through skills

Programmes include:

  • Professional Bakery Programme
  • ESOL for the meat industry

 

If you deliver your own training but want to develop the highest quality learning materials, our industry experts will develop courses and materials specifically for your business – and as a member you’ll get this at a discounted rate.

With the support of our accredited training providers, we’ll work with you to develop tailored in-house training and resources (such as student workbooks, PowerPoint presentations, teachers’ packs etc.) to help you increase the skills of your staff.

These can be accredited by us or we can work to have these accredited by an external awarding organisation.

Existing National Skills Academy programmes

In addition you can access materials to deliver our existing open programmes in-house, all designed and approved by the industry.

The materials come with full tutor notes and we will organise to license your in-house team to deliver the programme. We can even organise training for them by one of our centres.

Something for every sector

Whatever your business and whatever food and drink products you manufacture, we can create a bespoke training programme to help you increase the skills of your staff, improve efficiency and boost productivity.

Learn

To develop your people and your business, it helps to have a full and clear understanding of the industry. We believe it’s as much about your business learning as it is about the individuals. So to support this and give you real industry insight, we’ll offer you an invaluable suite of products.

Learning and development managers will now be able to benchmark themselves against the rest of the industry in terms of performance and best practice, and you’ll have all the information you need to understand government policy.

Guides include:

  • Successful apprenticeship training
  • Accessing funding
  • Finding the perfect training provider
  • Attracting young talent to the industry
  • Becoming a learning & development hero
  • Increasing productivity through skills

 

This is a really handy resource for any business – a suite of best practice guides specifically created to help the food and drink industry save, develop and improve. And as a member, you’ll get access to them absolutely free of charge.

Via a password-protected site, you can download a series of comprehensive online training guides specifically developed for the food and drink manufacturing industry. And with a little expert guidance, you’ll have the specialist knowledge to create your own bespoke in-house training programmes.

 

We are the only organisation that compiles statistics across the whole of the industry around skills and the workforce. More than that we research key topics that are important to food and drink businesses.

Examples reports include:

  • The UK Food Supply Chain
  • International Literature Review of Technologies Relating to Food and Drink Manufacturing and Processing
  • Barriers to UK Nationals Entering the Food and Drink Industry

What do young people think about the industry? What are the barriers to UK nationals working in the industry? What are the industry technological trends that companies should be looking at?

As a member you’ll have access to a suite of downloadable food and drink manufacturing reports. This contains the UK’s most up-to-date data on food and drink manufacturing workforce trends and industry market performance.

These will help you benchmark your own measures against sector standards, and build more informed business cases for learning and development programmes.

As a member you’ll receive one FREE report of your choice plus a discount of 25% on any additional reports you choose.

Included:

  • Policy updates
  • Summaries
  • Expert views
  • Food and drink industry overviews
  • How is the sector affected?

 

We’ll keep our members up-to-date with all the policy changes within the food and drink industry that could affect their business, covering skills training, careers and qualifications. Plus we’ll give you our expert opinion on their implications.

We’ll bring together all the relevant information on food and drink skills policies, and provide analysis of their impact. No one is better placed to do this than us. We’re the industry experts with specialist insight into the whole sector, from individual employees to government.

Together

We’re with you every step of the way. Just like you, we’re part of the food and drink industry and we want every business within it to succeed. And by giving you a voice and helping you join with others with the same goals, we hope to unite our industry for everyone’s benefit.

 

Being responsible for the learning and development issues of your business can be a lonely job – but as a member, you’re never alone. Our industry action groups bring together like-minded businesses, to share experiences, create an agenda for change and deliver value back to businesses.

These groups will work to identify the major barriers you face and develop solutions to improve the delivery of skills and training. These forums also offer you the opportunity to hear first hand about changes in policy, funding opportunities and swap information with other businesses in your sector.

“The National Skills Academy was the glue that stuck the projects together. It opened the door to serious, constructive discussions on the future of skills and training in our sector – put simply, this would not have been possible had it not been for The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink.” 
Jens Termansen
Supply Chain Director for Arla Foods

You can make a real difference:

  • Become part of the solution
  • Help shape the industry on your terms
  • Fulfil your business ambitions
  • Push your own skills issues
  • Spearhead the development of new industry training provision and qualifications
  • Help benchmark performance for the entire industry By identifying common themes you can actively resolve your shared issues and all gain a competitive advantage.

Look what we’ve already done for the dairy industry

We secured £7m of funding and a £1m industry contribution to lead the ground-breaking ‘Project Eden’ – a bespoke degree in Dairy Technology, delivered in a brand new, state-of-the-art training centre. This project has transformed the provision of dairy training from the worst in Europe to the best in just 2 years. The project has also won recognition from government and the industry alike, winning the 2011 IGD Sainsbury’s Award for Learning.

Supported by trade body Dairy UK and dairy businesses Milk Link, First Milk, Dairy Crest, Arla Foods, Wiseman Dairies and Muller, the new centre at Cheshire’s Reaseheath College has transformed the quality and relevance of UK dairy training for both new students and those already working in the sector.

 

As a member you will be supporting the work we do to ensure that the governments across the UK realise the importance of the industry and the skills issues the food and drink industry faces.

No one else does this role on your behalf. This is part of our long-term plan and we’re continually working to represent the needs of the food and drink manufacturing sector to government, securing funding and raising the profile of the industry as a whole.

As a member we’ll not only keep you informed of our successes, we’ll also give you the chance to influence our discussions with policy makers.

We’re already hard at work on your behalf

“The food & drink industry is a very large component of UK manufacturing. In fact it’s the biggest. We represent 15% of all manufacturing in the UK. We are one of the big boys.”
Ross Warburton

  • The industry is now taken more seriously by government in terms of economic importance
  • The level of contribution of the food supply chain to the UK economy is now widely recognised
  • We’ve secured more than £4.5 million of funding to offset training costs for food and drink businesses

FREE Level 2 Food Safety courses for ALL your employees

You could save thousands on your training budget, leaving you more to spend on extra resources that could help you improve efficiency and productivity.

Why choose a Membership?

Save Time - we'll help find the right training for you straightaway without any fuss

Save Money - we'll help you get more for your money with a training budget healthcheck, plus as a member you'll benefit from free and discounted training

Quality assured industry training - as a member you'll have access to the highest quality training available that's specific to both the food and drink industry and your business

Impartial advice - because we're not tied to any particular provider we'll give you advice based on your needs, rather than on what a certain provider can offer

Help shape the agenda through industry action groups and labour intelligence - and have your voice heard by policy makers

Expert led training - courses and lectures from some of the biggest movers and shakers in the industry

Engage with a new generation of potential recruits while ticking your Corporate Responsibility box - our "Tasty Careers" programme gives you a unique opportunity to promote the benefits of working in your specific sector and business in schools and colleges

How does Membership work?

It's simple. You pay a yearly membership subscription then instantly start taking advantage of all the benefits. Most of what's on offer is free, with a few little extras you can pay for at a reduced rate, if you decide you want them.

Want to know more?

Call: 0845 644 0558
Email: info@foodanddrink.nsacademy.co.uk