Positive partnerships: Unite Wales Union Learning Fund

24 February 2025

Unite Wales Union Learning Fund (WULF) is funded by Welsh Government to “support union led adult learning for workers across Wales”.

With active unions in 2,000 workplaces and covering all industries – from education to manufacturing, healthcare, construction, hospitality and retail, and more – the organisation provides workers with relevant assistance and support, according to their learning and development needs. L&D opportunities are provided through its partnership with Staff Skills academy+.

Someone who’s benefitted from these opportunities is Mark.

We’re very grateful to Mark for sharing his story with us; all words below are his own and shared with his permission.

“Like most new learners, I fit into the category of people who have been out of education for a great number of years and have tended to hide behind the excuse of being busy with other responsibilities. Oftentimes, family commitments and life in general just simply block the path to full-time, traditional courses at a higher education institution.

Whilst facing redundancy and an uncertain future, I quickly recognised the need to ignite my drive for stability and security. This need has been supported, and in some way achievable, through the CPD courses offered by the Unite Skills Academy, funded by the Unite Wales Union Fund Project.

The studying experience has afforded me the opportunity to self-educate in the comfort of my own home and in break times at work, all at my own pace. Unite were able to provide me with a personal learning account through their partnership with online provider Staff Skills academy+.

Staff Skills’s learning format appealed to me more than the idea of travelling long distances and struggling to keep up with younger and educationally advanced peers. Studying any type of online course might not be for everyone – however, the benefits in my case have made it a worthwhile and an enjoyable experience.

I was quickly aware of the main advantages that the Staff Skills academy+ e-learning could offer me. I did not need to plan my entire day around studying. In fact, a studying period can be easily planned around other responsibilities and approached in bite size chunks. Basically, it’s left to you to decide when, where, and for how long you are going to study. Knowing that you can pick up where you left off, and then resume at your pace, has given me the freedom and control to create a meaningful work-study balance.

I much prefer a quiet learning space with comfy surroundings, endless cups of tea and an unhealthy supply of biscuits – as opposed to the traditional, stuffy lecture theatre with no light refreshments in sight. To be honest, there is no competition really, especially when you consider the added stress of travelling to the lecture. Another main advantage of Staff Skills academy+ is that everything is instantaneous and all with the added benefit of online support available at the click of a mouse.

The Staff Skills-Unite Wales Pathways to Progress’s training portal was offered with a full one year’s free membership and free access to electronic certificates on completion of course. They presented well over 750 courses from which to choose, so it makes perfect sense to take full advantage of the learning opportunity.

Thankfully, Staff Skills academy+ e-learning indirectly supports a healthy planet by reducing CO2 emissions. Knowing that I’ve contributed to energy savings, as well as the cost of lighting and heating the large lecture halls and electronic equipment associated with traditional classroom settings quite honestly leaves me feeling motivated to do more study.”

Thank you, Mark. We wish you all the very best for the future.

If you’d like to offer similar learning opportunities to workers in your area, we’d love to hear from you. Alongside our 700+ CPD and RoSPA-certified courses – covering everything from mandatory training programmes to industry-specific knowledge – we also have an extensive suite of soft skills courses to improve workplace performance, and a Wellbeing hub offering mindfulness (MindLabs) and movement (Les Mills) classes. To find out more, why not have a look and see what we do – or book a call with one of our team today.