GREATER Manchester's Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is to help pilot a scheme to train low-skilled workers.

The organisation selected by the Government to carry out the initiative, will receive a share of £40 million allocated to the scheme over two financial years.

It is being funded by £25 million from the Treasury and £15 million from within existing LSC budgets.

The LSC in Greater Manchester is one of six local areas selected to run an employer training pilot, aimed at improving the skills of 16,000 low-skilled employees in England.

Under the initiative, to run between September and August of 2003, the LSC will identify volunteer employers who are prepared to release low-skilled employees during working time to achieve basic skills such as literacy and numeracy or a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) at level two.

The pilots will be targeted particularly at small employers from the private, public or voluntary sectors who have not been involved in training towards qualifications.

LSC Greater Manchester will offer employers:

tailored information, advice and guidance;

free training course and assessment;

compensation for the wage costs of trainees for their time off for training and assessment, whether at a college, with a private training provider or in the workplace.

Liz Davis, executive director of the LSC, said; "This pilot will be delivered in partnership with Business Links to meet a key barrier to local employers training low-skilled workers, which is the cost of giving them time off to study.

"We aim to work with employers to show that skills development brings real bottom-line benefits."