ISME (Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association) has called on the Government to reverse the reductions in the National Training Fund (NTF) in the forthcoming October Budget and to release the available funding to improve skills and training levels in the workplace.
In spite of the NTF having a surplus of €1.3 billion, ISME’s training budget under the fund was reduced in 2024. In fact, the fund is expected to be closer to €1.5bn by the end of 2024.The reduction in the budget makes no sense and ISME has not been able to meet demand for its training, including on advanced programmes in finance and supply chain management.
The National Training Fund is paid for by employers through a one per cent Employer’s PRSI levy, which was formalised under the National Training Fund Act, 2000. The Act sets out in law that the fund must be spent exclusively to:
- Raise the skills of those in employment, or
- Provide training to those who wish to acquire skills for the purposes of taking up employment, or
- Provide information in relation to existing, or likely future, requirements for skills in the economy.
The National Training Fund was set up in order to address and improve workplace skills for employees.
Adam Weatherley, ISME’s Learning & Development Manager, said: “We hope not only to have an expanded training budget for 2025, but we need to clear training backlogs from 2024 due to lack of funding. If training budgets under the NTF are not substantially increased in 2025, it is neither acceptable nor tenable for the Exchequer to continue to collect the training levy. ISME will seek the suspension of the training levy for a minimum of five years, to allow the NTF surplus to reduce in size.”
The OECD Skills Survey for Ireland noted that while the educational performance of Ireland’s school leavers and young adults is significantly above OECD averages, this performance level declines with age.
The Survey of Adult Skills shows that only 25% of adults had problem-solving skills at Levels 2 or 3, meaning that they can navigate across pages and applications to solve a problem or use digital tools to facilitate or make progress towards the solution of a problem. This is well below the OECD average of 31%.
Margaret O’Rourke Doherty, CEO of the Hair and Beauty Industry Confederation (HABIC), said: “Our role is to support the hair and beauty sector nationally. Upskilling and lifelong learning is central to the needs of our members and in 2024 demand for our services far outstrips our budget. Unfortunately, since early June we have been forced to turn members away. The reality is that many members are forced to postpone training until 2025, as they depend on the addition of funding to make the course a reality and viable, our members are really struggling with the costs of doing business and without financial support training gets deprioritised which is not a sustainable approach for business development.”
ISME’s letter to Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe concerning the funding is available HERE
The OECD Skills Strategy for Ireland is available HERE
The ISME pre-budget submission is available HERE
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Issued on behalf of ISME, by Heneghan
For information
Adam Weatherley / ISME – (086) 824 4364 (available for comment)
Margaret O’Rourke Doherty / HABIC (087) 065 7864 (available for comment)
Neil McDonnell / ISME – (087) 299 5658 (available for comment)
Nigel Heneghan – (086) 258 7206 – nigel@heneghan.ie
Rory Sweeney – (086) 897 6442 – rory@heneghan.ie
