Plan 500 2008-2013
Plan 500 was started by the Swindon business community following the economic down turn in 2008. It was a ground breaking initiative that brought Swindon’s companies together with local young people who were seeking work. Over the last few years Forward Swindon has worked with the Plan 500 Board to deliver a range of work based opportunities for young people and to help businesses overcome the bureaucracy often associated with taking on new staff.
The aims for 2012/13 were to create:
- 150 new apprenticeship opportunities.
- 150 new work experience opportunities.
- 25 additional trained business mentors.
- 100 employers receiving work-based qualifications information.
- 75 young people receiving mentoring.
Plan 500 exceeded targets on 4 out of 5 of these aims in 2012/13.
In total 178 apprenticeship opportunities were created, 28 over the target. Plan 500 aimed to create 25 new mentors but this was exceeded by an extra 17 making a total of 42. Mentoring enables skills and experience to be passed on to a young person. In addition to this we aimed to assigne 75 new young people to a mentor but this was exceeded with a total of 153.
The creation of work experience opportunities was the only target not to be met in full, with 112 achieved against a target of 150.
A skilled workforce is the engine behind a business’ success. Plan 500 connected businesses with free work-based qualifications for their staff which increases productivity and reduces recruitment costs. In 2012/13 Plan 500 aimed to provide 100 employers with work-based qualification information with the total achieved in 2012/13 being 732.
Following the creation of a new Employment and Skills board for Swindon, the aims and objectives of Plan 500 will be taken on by this new partnership group, run from Swindon Borough Council.
