Volume 53 | Issue 1 | January 2015
More cash for consumers in home improvement deal December saw the relaunch of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) with £100m pledged by the Government, set to be released in a series of stages on a quarterly basis during the year. The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) has reopened to householders in England and Wales, offering up to £5600 in funding to support the installation of energy saving measures such as heating system upgrades, insulation and glazing. The GDHIF first opened in summer 2014 with a £120 million budget but it closed within weeks after vouchers to the total budget were quickly applied for. Now DECC has announced £100 million additional funding for the scheme. Although only £30m has been made available initially (with £24m worth of vouchers allocated for solid wall insulation) details of further releases will be announced on a quarterly basis with the next release date expected in February. The list of approved energy savings improvements include: condensing gas boilers, replacement warm air units, waste water heat recovery, fan-assisted storage heaters and floor insulation. Homeowners will be able to receive up to £1000 for installing two measures from an approved list; up to £100 refunded for their
£100 million has been put aside for the GDHIF
Green Deal Assessment and up to £500 more if applying within 12 months of buying a new home. Manufacturers are hoping that the funding will encourage consumers to look at upgrading their heating systems. Chris Stammers, Marketing Director at Dimplex, says: “The reopening of the GDHIF is a welcome boost which will support the installation of a wide range of energy saving measures. DECC has tightened the rules on applications to avoid a repeat of the first
phase, but we’re still expecting it to prove popular and nowhere more so than in the private rental sector. Installers must be ready to take advantage of the opportunities.” The APHC has also welcomed DECC's announcement, but argues that more needs to be done to encourage professional installers to get involved. Speaking on behalf of the Association, CEO John Thompson says: “For installers, particularly small businesses, the transient nature of the fund makes it difficult to depend on, and what we would like to see is greater emphasis put on consultation with sole traders and SMEs who can be left feeling uncertain when funds are so swiftly closed and revised. “When the GDHIF closed so rapidly in the summer consumers were losing confidence in the advice given to them in their best interest from installers, and many installers began to lose confidence in government schemes such as Green Deal. We feel greater communication and consultation between Government and installers is needed to avoid this situation.”
Employers ignorant about qualifications Recent research undertaken by City & Guilds has suggested that many employers are often unfamiliar with qualifications when they are abbreviated within a candidate's CV. The study found that the majority of employers questioned didn't understand the acronyms and were unable to identify their status and meaning. Working with the Plain English Campaign, City & Guilds asked the opinions of more than a thousand managers working for small companies and large enterprises. Nearly 65% of respondents admitted that they had to look up abbreviated qualifications to discover
their meaning and a similar number said that they were sceptical of abbreviations, believing that they might be used to mislead or cover up a lack of skill. Most worryingly, 95% of employers quizzed in the survey proved unable to identify which was the most advanced qualification from a list of acronyms. As well as a lack of understanding the same study also demonstrated a lack of confidence in the current education system, with only 35% of employers saying that they believed today's qualifications adequately prepare people for the workplace.
“The research findings are of concern to both employers and job seekers,” says Graeme Dryden, Training and Technical Manager at APHC. “I would urge employers to invest the time in staying up to date with the latest types and titles of training available.” Following the research, City & Guilds has created an online 'Education Jargon Buster' in a bid to lift confusion and help employers to understand the level of each qualification and to be better informed when recruiting. The jargon buster can be found at TechBac.com where there is a list of the most commonly misunderstood education abbreviations.
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Career choice
For the second year running, training provider JTL is running its Ambassadors initiative, where women who are currently in an apprenticeship in the building services engineering sector, or who have recently completed one, encourage other young women to follow in their footsteps. At the heart of the programme is the idea that young women who are making a significant success of their careers as a plumber or electrician should share their personal experiences as an apprentice, which will help to inspire female school leavers to consider a career in what remains a predominately male orientated industry.
ARTISAN EVO DIGITAL THERMOSTATIC MIXER SHOWER
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MIXER SHOWER ENQUIRY
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