Women working in the food and drink industry are being offered access to subsidised training in a bid to give them better access to higher paid, higher skilled careers.

Sector skills council Improve has secured funding to re-launch the Women and Work programme, which was first made available to food and drink companies in 2006.

The new expanded programme will offer grants of £650 which can be used to help fund a broad range of training, qualifications, short courses and coaching.

Activity funded under the scheme is divided into three strands. These will be Women in Industry, supporting access and retention of women in male-dominated sectors, Women in the Lead, supporting career progression, and Women in Business, supporting increased earning potential for women through a range of mentoring.

Liz Pattison, head of skills solutions at the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, said: “The last Women and Work scheme was focused very specifically on subsidised management training. With our ongoing assessment of the industry’s skills needs and the development of the National Skills Academy provider network, we are now in a position to take a more holistic approach to addressing the broader issues women face with employment in food and drink, through a more flexible range of solutions.

“There is a real need to address this massive gender imbalance and unlock the talent women have for the future good of the industry. There are skills gaps and shortages in every sector of food and drink, and the industry needs to recruit around 60,000 extra people to management, professional and technical positions by 2017.”

Training under the initiative will be funded through a matched contribution arrangement. Training programmes will have to cost a minimum of £750 to be eligible for the subsidy, with employers asked to fund the difference. In addition, employers will be required to make a contribution in kind - time, travel, accommodation, facilities and other resources - of £900 per trainee.

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