Skills Development

By improving the skills of managers and employees you can help your business boost productivity and increase profits. Invest NI’s support in this area is both advisory and financial but is only available to businesses that can show that they intend to sell outside Northern Ireland, are actively pursuing growth plans and will contribute to increasing productivity and innovation in Northern Ireland. Find out more about qualifying for this support.

What areas can we advise on?

• We’ll help you identify skills gaps.
• We'll advise you on best practice in developing a skilled workforce.
• We guide you through exploring the benefits of collaboration.
• We run Best Practice Clubs and workshops where you will hear up-to-date information on business issues and get the chance to network with other business people.
• The Employers' Handbook contains proforma documents that can help you with your HR needs. To access word versions of these click here

What financial support do we offer?

If you have a skills improvement project that is clearly aligned to a business strategy, we may be able to offer financial support for:

• preparing the project
• trainers’ costs (including travel and accommodation)
• trainees’ expenses (including travel and accommodation)
• materials, supplies and facilities directly related to the project.

We assess applications for financial support on a case by case basis and your business will be expected to pay a proportion of the cost of the assistance.

Your next step

If you are interested in getting support to improve the skills of your workforce please fill in our short enquiry form or call us on 0800 181 4422.