Volunteers in Bolton are building new skills for free, thanks to a social value agreement between Me Learning and Bolton Council.
They are accessing online training via our learning platform and using our extensive library of training content to expand their knowledge, so they can help others.
The main initiative to benefit is Digital Bolton, a project where digital champions work with council colleagues and local people to improve their IT skills. This initiative offers practical help for both council employees and local people to enhance digital literacy and reduce digital exclusion. Volunteers, some working with the council and some from the local community, are using our learning platform to access learning.
Other voluntary organisations working in partnership with Bolton Council have also been issued with licences to the platform to help their staff and volunteers build skills.
- A total of 101 learners have been issued with social value learning licences.
- They have completed 119 courses and a further 73 courses are still in progress.
- The money saved by Bolton Council is £5,760 – the amount it would have cost to purchase these services.
John Brewder, Regional Director at Me Learning said:
“A huge amount of effort goes into supporting community initiatives in Bolton by the council and local voluntary organisations. So, we are delighted that through our learning, we are able to offer our support.
“All the local authorities working with us across the GMCA have the opportunity to issue social value licences. They decide where to allocate these based on their own priorities. It is really satisfying to hear how Bolton has embraced this offer and that the training we provide, in a small way, contributes to the work they do making life easier for the people living and working in Bolton.”
Me Learning has been providing digital training services to learners at Bolton Council and nine other councils and their partner organisations across Greater Manchester since 2016. The councils rely on Me Learning to provide the technology so their employees and partners can access online training. They also have access to our library of training content, developed specifically for, and with, local government using subject-matter experts.
As part of this highly successful partnership between Greater Manchester Combined Authorities (GMCA) and Me Learning each council chooses where to allocate free training licences for social value purposes, according to their own priorities and objectives. Since 2020, across all 10 Greater Manchester local authorities involved, Me learning has provided access to 4,543 social value courses. The money saved by the councils is £176,100 – the amount it would have cost to purchase these services.
For more information contact enquiries@melearning.co.uk.
Click here to explore our library of over 200 e-learning courses.
