Farming Connect Funding – May 2023
The Farming Connect Funding is a fund open to enhance the skills for businesses, farmers, and foresters. The training provided under the Farming Connect Funding is 80% funded, with some services being fully funded.
The eligibility of the Farming Connect Funding has been recently widened to include more farmers, foresters with smaller holdings, new categories of self-employed contractors and food businesses.
You will need to register on the BOSS platform to apply for the Farming Connect funding. The Farming Connect Funding covers many items, but the main item that we can help with is for development and lifelong learning programmes.
You can find a step by step PDF created by Farming Connect / Business Wales to take you through the process of applying and undertaking training here: View here
Before you apply for any training, you will need to ensure you:
- Registered with Farming Connect, and use your own individual email address contact which is unique for you. You can register either by phoning 03456 000 813 or you can register online here.
- Have received your confirmation email from Farming Connect which will give you access to Business Wales BOSS website via Sign on Cymru.
The courses that CCW-Training Academy can offer which can be funded under Farming Connect are:
- ILM Level 2 Award in Leadership and Team Skills
- ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management
- ILM Recognised Management Training
- Business planning and development
- Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering, Manufacturing or Retail
- Level 2 Award in Health & Safety in the Workplace
- Level 3 Award in Food Safety in Catering, Manufacturing or Retail
- Level 3 Award in Supervisory Health & Safety
- Manual Handling
- Marketing your business
- Understanding your accounts and financial statements
- Working at Heights Awareness and Risk Assessment
- Emergency First Aid (1 day course)
- Environmental awareness, audit, and management for your business 3 day
- First Aid at Work
- Leading and Managing
- Keeping your Cash Flowing
Here are the step-by-step actions once you have registered:
Step 1
You need to access BOSS, which you can do so here once you’ve registered with Farming Connect: Log in to BOSS via Sign on Cymru.
You’ll need to access BOSS to create your PDP, apply for the relevant training and complete any fully funded e-learning modules.
Step 2
You will need to complete your PDP. This can be done through your BOSS login screen. The PDP should identify your training goals as it will be important for getting the funding approved. You can see on page 6 on this link how to fill in your PDP.
You should ensure that your PDP suits the training that you are looking to complete.
Step 3
From the BOSS account you will need to select the training that you require. You can select from a wide range of courses under 4 categories which are:
- Business
- Livestock
- Land
- Land – Machinery and Equipment
We can provide some of the courses under the Business section. If you are looking for Livestock, Land, Machinery and Equipment then please check out other courses available in this link.
Step 4
You need to now apply for the funded training that you will have selected using the BOSS website. You can see it on Page 8 of this link.
- Submit your application form on the BOSS website for the training you need
- You should ensure that all details on the application are correct before submitting
- These are the next steps to take:
- You should now be ready on the BOSS homepage to “View and Submit Training Course Application Form”
- Select the course that you want to use in the dropdown menu
- When you click the relevant course then the category autofills
- You can select the training provider you want to do the training with (If you are doing the training with us then it would be CCW-Training Academy)
- You’ll need to enter the full cost of the training excluding any VAT
- You’ll then need to answer what benefit you will gain on completing the course. You have a minimum of 350 characters including spaces.
- Ensure you check all of your answers are correct and then save changes.
Step 5
You should now have submitted your application. You can also access the Farming Connect E-Learning interactive courses alongside the funded courses you are looking to sit. You can find the link here.
Please note before you apply for machinery or equipment training you must complete the e-learning module around Health and Safety which you can find here. To access the e-learning, simply:
- Log into your BOSS Account here
- Ensure you are on the main home page and go to your dashboard which is on the left-hand side of the screen
- Go into your dashboard
- The e-learning health and safety module should be visible
- Click on the course tile
- Complete the course
Step 6
All your skills and learning achievement should be recorded on the “Storfa Sgiliau”.
The Storfa Sgiliau is a secure area for online data storage. It’s a tool to store your continuous professional development, you can find it here.
Any e-learning or Farming Connect Training should be uploaded on your behalf to this platform and tool. You can record any of your other achievement and activities in your own “My Space” area.
You can see all of the courses that we offer HERE
Our videos on the food and drinks skill, as well as Farming Connect funding in Welsh and English can be found below:
