The funding can be used to cover the full costs of training or can go towards partial payment of training costs for employees resident in Scotland.

But it can’t be used to pay for industry qualifications or for training to meet a statutory obligation required by law.

This funding must be used for training and cannot be used for:

• Company teambuilding away days;
• Consultancy costs;
• Staff backfill costs;
• Attending conferences, or delivering workshops at conferences;
• Training supported by other public sector funds e.g. Modern Apprenticeships;
• Topping up any ‘contribution’ funding provided by other public bodies and/or SDS;
• Driving licence acquisition;
• Training where there is a statutory requirement by Law;
• Costs to develop training;
• Associated costs to training such as travel, accommodation etc.

All training should be accredited or certified...

• For any course that is not accredited or certified, please advise us of this as part of the ‘Course Details` narrative for the relevant course(s) in Section D1 of the application.

The FWDF SDS route shold not be used for training that can be fully delivered through college provision - see the Levy-payer funding stream operated by the Scottish Funding Council  for help with that.

You are responsible for sourcing, co-ordinating and reporting on the training requirements.

You must be:

• a Levy-paying employer in Scotland in the private, public or third sector, and
• an employer based or operating within Scotland, wholly or partially

You will be required to provide evidence of that you pay the Apprenticeship Levy, usually by providing a copy of the relevant part of your most recent Employer Payment Summary (EPS/P32/P35), though other documents may also be acceptable. Refer to See Running Payroll  for more information.

You will also have to provide:

• Company name and sector
• Company registration detail and number
• Information on why the College route in not suitable and that you have considered this before applying to SDS

At this time, due to Scottish Government guidance, Grant awards cannot be provided to organisations that are incorporated or registered in the Russian Federation or in the Republic of Belarus; nor can Grant awards be provided to organisations where there is “a person of significant control” who is established, incorporated or registered in the Russian Federation or in the Republic of Belarus.

You must submit a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) as part of your application. This will show how the training will help your organisation make a demonstrable return on investment.

The TNA should take into account current circumstances arising from COVID-19 recovery and demonstrate how the training will support the business to positively respond to those circumstances. It should also set out how you are addressing SDS and Scottish Government priority groups such as disabled workers and employees from the BAME community.

SDS can help you prepare a TNA. Or you can re-use one that your business has already developed through another route, e.g. Skills for Growth or Business Gateway.

In your application you will also have to provide:

• Details of skills gap(s) to be addressed
• Impact of training on productivity (particularly in the context of COVID-19)
• Cost of training
• Training identified/to be delivered
• Timescale for training delivery
• Number of employees to be enrolled, names and contact emails
• Number and level of qualifications to be achieved
• Number of notional hours of study

For advice on preparing your Training Needs Analysis please contact fwdf@sds.co.uk

The law governing subsidy control (previously referred to as ‘state aid’) changed following Brexit, and a new Subsidy Control Act 2022 is now in place.

In accordance with the new Act, Skills Development Scotland is offering the FWDF funding on the basis that the total FDWF grant award that SDS pays to any recipient is treated as Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA). (You may be familiar with similar permitted subsidy arrangements in place before the Act, which were known as ‘de minimis’ and ‘Special Drawing Rights’). The rules are slightly different, so it is important that you understand how MFA applies. Further guidance is available here: Subsidy Control Guidance 

Cumulation rules apply to MFA, and you require to declare that the total value of all low value subsidies you have received in a specified period, including the maximum grant award available under the FWDF scheme, will not exceed the permitted threshold. By submitting an application for the FWDF fund you will be confirming that your Organisation* has, since 1 April 2020, not received more than £300,000 in total from the following: -

• MFA payments
• Services of public economic interest (SPEI) payments
• ‘De minimis’ payments under the previous state aid regulations
• ‘Special Drawing Rights’ (SDR) payments under the Trade and Co-operation Agreement

* The MFA financial threshold applies at organisation/company group level

If all of those payments added together would exceed £300,000 you cannot apply for this fund.

You should be aware that non-compliance with the subsidy control requirements may result in a number of legal consequences, including a requirement to repay the contribution together with interest.

In regard to your proposed training please note the following key dates. These dates are subject to change so it is in your interest to apply early and schedule training completion as early as is practical:

• Your application must be received and grant award contractually agreed by 31 July 2023.
• Training must commence by 31 August 2023.
• Training must be completed, invoiced and paid for by 31 December 2023.

Training cannot start before you receive, sign and return the Grant Award letter.

Afterwards you will need to send the invoice to SDS with supporting documents to show the training has been completed and SDS will pay the invoice.

Your employees will be required to complete monitoring forms provided by SDS when they take part in the training.

The deadline for applications to be contractually agreed is 31 July 2023.

However, this deadline may be brought forward - for example if the fund is fully allocated before that date.

Eligible applications will be approved on a “first-come, first-served” basis so you are advised to make an early application.

Where demand is greater than the allocated funding, SDS may create a waiting list.

Use these resources to help with your online FWDF application:

• FWDF App Form FAQ 
• FWDF App Form Guidance 
• FWDF Programme Guidance 
• SDS Training Needs Analysis Template 

 For advice on preparing a Training Needs Analysis (TNA), or any other queries, please contact fwdf@sds.co.uk