You can't get dole while on a course

[sheothebudworths]

Tell him to look for NVQ courses, I really think there will be something out there a LOT cheaper.

Sheo, tiling isn't rocket science. It tends to be one of those things you can either do or not. There will be tips and problems that you can be taught to spot/work out etc but a few months would probably cover everything tbh, then it's just practise.

He can't do an NVQ unless he's already working doing tiling though!

No, I don't imagine it's hard, but he's doing plastering too, which is trickier...and I found my course on there, which will take me two years at a day a week (but is also offered as a full time course - which is 2 or 3 days I think - to be completed in a year), which they condense into 6 weeks full time, so if the one he's doing is 9 weeks in total, they're obviously covering a bit more than the basics!

What I'm saying is just that it's unlikely that he'd find a college course that gave a qualification at the end of it, which was under a year in length.

Half of my course is theory too, btw (zzzzzzzzzzzzz.... ) - which is all neccessary for him to pass the NVQ later on while he's working iyswim.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I asked him this:

Are there no colleges where you could do a free course to see if you're interested?

and he replied

had a look cant find anything there are some but you have to pay back and i dont meet criteria

 

[feyr]

just to clarify, a cscs card isnt a qualification, it just shows you are safe to work iyswim. it involves taking a basic health and safety test and proving you are in work and either have or are enrolled on a nvq qualification. it cost between £15 and £20 to sit most health and safety tests, some of which are online. my employer paid for my level 1 nvq h+s, which involved a 1 day training course ( 9 hours of theory zzzzzzz) then short exam a week later. most of it wasnt relevant to me as its aimed a lot towards the construction industry but it was mainly common sense tbh! then you need to pay for a cscs card, which is around £20 i think

i asked my brother about ableskills ( he is a bricklayer) and he said they were one of the places recomended to him by his college when he finished his level 2 diploma. he's 23 and and started his training when he was 16 through an apprentership and then college, so he has to either wait a few years to be able to get a nvq through experienced workers fasttrack, or pay up and do a course. atm he is trying to persuade his employer to pay for the nvq

 

[feyr]

where abouts in essex is he, and how far would he be willing to travel? quite a few places offer 1 day free taster days. works both ways, you get to see if you like it, and are any good, while they get to see potential candidates and what level they are at.

for example- http://www.tilingcourses.co.uk/Invitation.aspx is in Harlow.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

just to clarify, a cscs card isnt a qualification, it just shows you are safe to work iyswim. it involves taking a basic health and safety test and proving you are in work and either have or are enrolled on a nvq qualification. it cost between £15 and £20 to sit most health and safety tests, some of which are online. my employer paid for my level 1 nvq h+s, which involved a 1 day training course ( 9 hours of theory zzzzzzz) then short exam a week later. most of it wasnt relevant to me as its aimed a lot towards the construction industry but it was mainly common sense tbh! then you need to pay for a cscs card, which is around £20 i think

i asked my brother about ableskills ( he is a bricklayer) and he said they were one of the places recomended to him by his college when he finished his level 2 diploma. he's 23 and and started his training when he was 16 through an apprentership and then college, so he has to either wait a few years to be able to get a nvq through experienced workers fasttrack, or pay up and do a course. atm he is trying to persuade his employer to pay for the nvq

I know what CSCS is, I sat there testing a friend of mine the night before his exam! I think maybe he's just thinking of the cost of taking the CSCS and getting the card, and I think it's probably a bit more than you say unless your employer pays for the exam and your card.

So does your brother actually know anyone who went with Able Skills?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

where abouts in essex is he,

for example- http://www.tilingcourses.co.uk/Invitation.aspx is in Harlow.

um, I'll have to get back to you on that. I can't remember, but it'll come to me in a second. I think it may be Wickford area which isn't too far from Harlow from what I can remember

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

More from my brother

dole have no course or funding, i need qualifications to qualify for a grant to do tiling then i have to pay it back plus i have to be attending college that's the best way i can explain it, i will have to make contacts, if i do my land-ladies kitchen and bathroom and to a good standard then she know loads of people and we have loads of people over as well plus as i said will be able to do basic plastering so can charge for that as well, mind you if i make a mess of it they will see that and i will have finished before i have started, exciting isn't it.

 

[sheothebudworths]

I know what CSCS is, I sat there testing a friend of mine the night before his exam! I think maybe he's just thinking of the cost of taking the CSCS and getting the card, and I think it's probably a bit more than you say unless your employer pays for the exam and your card.

It's really not!!!

The CSCS thing is pretty much insignificant - he definitely shouldn't be deciding whether to pay three grand for a course or not based on anything at all to do with that!!!!

 

[sheothebudworths]

dole have no course or funding, i need qualifications to qualify for a grant to do tiling then i have to pay it back plus i have to be attending college that's the best way i can explain it....

Once again, Minnie... ...it's not the dole he'd approach for funding! It'd be the college!!!

Under the one I went for (which I would imagine is very standard) they ran a sort of point system, being on benefits/a low income, being a single parent, it being your first level 2 course (so below A'levels - so having no quals doesn't count against you at all ), probably some others too that I can't think of.

And he wouldn't have to pay any of it back (unless he chucked the course in or didn't attend)!!!

He needs to approach some COLLEGES and ask their student advisory service for advice re. funding/assistance and stop taking it from whatever dodgy source he's getting it from now, cos it's bollocks.....

 

[sheothebudworths]

That's all colleges rather than training centres of course.

Actually feyr's suggestion earlier of a careers advisor was really sensible because they could hopefully gather information on all the potential courses so that he could see if there was actually a suitable one at college, if he was happy taking longer to do it.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's really not!!!

The CSCS thing is pretty much insignificant - he definitely shouldn't be deciding whether to pay three grand for a course or not based on anything at all to do with that!!!!

I don't think he is, that's just something he mentioned. I've probably made more of it than necessary

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Once again, Minnie... ...it's not the dole he'd approach for funding! It'd be the college!!!

Under the one I went for (which I would imagine is very standard) they ran a sort of point system, being on benefits/a low income, being a single parent, it being your first level 2 course (so below A'levels - so having no quals doesn't count against you at all ), probably some others too that I can't think of.

And he wouldn't have to pay any of it back (unless he chucked the course in or didn't attend)!!!

He needs to approach some COLLEGES and ask their student advisory service for advice re. funding/assistance and stop taking it from whatever dodgy source he's getting it from now, cos it's bollocks.....

I've just emailed him this comment so will await his reply and get back to you

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

He has replied.

was just starting to look into that

 

[sheothebudworths]

Hehe!!!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Hehe!!!

I'm feeling like banging my head at the moment, but I feel for him, I know I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to start.

I asked him if he'd only just started looking down the college route and he replied

i have, but i was looking again, by the looks of it, i,m not eligible for it anyway, but don't think i have found the right section, looking at southend colleges courses doesn't appear to be any training there

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

More

most say have to have been unemployed for 6 months or more, others say i have to have certain qualifications, don't forget i'm new to using search on-line and have never had to look for this sort of thing before and the majority of searches aren't what i need, e.g the link you gave yesterday called a few all they wanted was me to join there courses, i have found a few other places with ideas and routes to go about tiling most suggest doing the 8 week course after the initial starter course and then trying to join up with a tiling company or working for yourself and getting the hands on experience and get work via work you done and yes at the moment it is hard to get work but thats the same in almost everything

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

and more

any way as i said i will what ever way i go be doing the short 1 week course which will be £400 approx that will give me a feel for if that's the path i want to follow, and if i'm still in two minds i can do the advanced for another £400 and that should let me know. but at the moment i haven't got a clue what else to do, i really don't want factory work or anything i have done in the past. plus if i,m good at it i will feel that i have archived something. if you get what i mean, being prime minister just ain't for me.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

sheo?

 

[sheothebudworths]

Sorry! I was out!

Ok - re. the qulifications, I've just remembered that mine did ask for some basic o'levels (or whatever they call them now ) but in the case of my ex who also has no quals (doing bricklaying) when he went along, they weren't at all rigid about that (particularly for older students I think)...you know he'd have to be able to work out how many tiles he needed or whatever, so nothing hard and if he was confident he could do that I'd say they'd definietly not apply those rules, so totally don;t be put off from applying because of that (again he could call the college and ask to be put through to the right department and speak to someone there).

But yeah - first of all of course he needs to find a college that does a course he wants - maybe he should start by calling that tile association place feyr linked to and see if they have a comprehensiv list of courses in his area (NOT courses run by private companies)..or if they haven't, if they might know someon who would!

Not sure about the six month thing however....it rings a bell tbh ...let me check my own college's website and see what they say about that.....but I do know that for instanc, someone who's on my course and is employed (and not on a low wage) had a massive reduction because it was his first level 2 course (and he's already very, very skilled at what we're doing - just needs the NVQ), so even if he couldn't go the unemployed route, the lack of qualifications might count in his favour.


Hang on......

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Sorry! I was out!

Did you ask for permission?

Will forward the rest of the info to him

He has rung some of those places on Feyr's list already but can't remember what he said about them

 

[sheothebudworths]

Ok - mine asks for documentary proof of entitlement dated at least three months before....so I guess three months.

But

Level 2 Course Funding
The College is funded to support Government policy of increasing the number of adults with full Level 2 qualifications. If you are over 19 and do not already have a full Level 2 qualification and you are enrolling on a full Level 2 qualification, you may be able to get a significant reduction in the costs of doing your course.

So when he asks for a list of colleges doing the courses, he should also say that it's level 2 courses he's interested in (which are generally the ones that lead to a professional qualifiction, so would likely to be the ones he'd be after anyway).

Admittedly though, my college, which has a pretty large trades department doesn't seem to do anything that looks like tiling, so maybe it's just hard to come by outside of private courses, but he should really find that out for sure to start with.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Ok - mine asks for documentary proof of entitlement dated at least three months before....so I guess three months.

But



So when he asks for a list of colleges doing the courses, he should also say that it's level 2 courses he's interested in (which are generally the ones that lead to a professional qualifiction, so would likely to be the ones he'd be after anyway).

Admittedly though, my college, which has a pretty large trades department doesn't seem to do anything that looks like tiling, so maybe it's just hard to come by outside of private courses, but he should really find that out for sure to start with.

Right, will forward this to him then.

What's Level 1?

 

[sheothebudworths]

As an example of the costs...for my course it was this...

Home/EU students tuition fees (per year): £600.00


Once you know your tuition fee, please look at the 'Additional Costs'. This will tell you all the extra costs you will have to pay in order to begin or complete your course.

Additional costs Payment due Total
College Registration £26.00
Awarding Body Registration £30.00
Exam Fees £45.00
Supplementary Resource Fee £175.00

The £600 would be payable twice (it's a two year course)...can't remember about the others except I know the college reg was a one off....but the bloke I mentioned didn't pay any tuition fees, just the additional ones, so you can see it's a pretty massive reduction and also (as I said to him), that slacking off at school does pay off in the end, sometimes!

 

[sheothebudworths]

Level 1?
I don't know.
Nothing he'd be interested in!

There are Level 3 courses too...but they'd be too advanced for him...I think it'd be Level 2 he'd be wanting.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

As an example of the costs...for my course it was this...



The £600 would be payable twice (it's a two year course)...can't remember about the others except I know the college reg was a one off....but the bloke I mentioned didn't pay any tuition fees, just the additional ones, so you can see it's a pretty massive reduction and also (as I said to him), that slacking off at school does pay off in the end, sometimes!

Yeah, but that's a yearly one is it? Couldn't you just condense it into 8 weeks?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Level 1?
I don't know.
Nothing he'd be interested in!

There are Level 3 courses too...but they'd be too advanced for him...I think it'd be Level 2 he'd be wanting.

Well if you don't know what Level 1 is, how do you know that's not what he's supposed to be looking at?

So, I can go to college for £600 a year?

 

[sheothebudworths]

Yeah, but that's a yearly one is it? Couldn't you just condense it into 8 weeks?

Not if you did it at college - just cos they don't do it like that (I say that without actually knowing if it's true or not - maybe it is at some places? But it's not at mine)!

That's going to be the advantage of paying the full whack, but like I say, if he found a college one over a year, he could try and find work to fit around that and still pay a whole lot less.

Just be good for him to find out ALL his options then weigh up what'd be best in the long term.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

 

[sheothebudworths]

Well if you don't know what Level 1 is, how do you know that's not what he's supposed to be looking at?

So, I can go to college for £600 a year?

Yes!


No! LESS!!!

The £600 are the tuition fees - that's the bit you WOULDN'T pay!!!

I know that Level 1 wouldn't be worth it bcause it'd be going unesseccarily further back than he needed to! I guess it's GCSE level actually - but it wouldn't give him any useful qual - he'd still have to do level 2 to get that, without ever having needed to do the level 1! See?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Not if you did it at college - just cos they don't do it like that (I say that without actually knowing if it's true or not - maybe it is at some places? But it's not at mine)!

That's going to be the advantage of paying the full whack, but like I say, if he found a college one over a year, he could try and find work to fit around that and still pay a whole lot less.

Just be good for him to find out ALL his options then weigh up what'd be best in the long term.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Hm, I've always thought of becoming a brain surgeon

*starts looking for brain surgery courses*

Gotta go, home time. Catch ya later no doubt. Tanks for help

 

[sheothebudworths]

No worries!

I'm going out again now for a bit anyway!