ukwa 2 cover - United Kingdom Warehousing Association

4 Association News
TRAINING
UKWA and SfL agree to work
together to develop the skills of
the warehousing sector
UKWA and Skills for
Logistics (SfL), the Sector
Skills Council (SSC) for the
freight logistics industries,
have reached a formal
agreement to work together
on the development of
a series of nationally
recognised qualifications
for the logistics industry.
The organisations have
signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU)
which outlines ways in
which the two parties will
co-operate on a series of
joint activities that will
lead to the development
of long term sustainable
initiatives that reflect and
address the changing
skills development needs
of the sector.
Dr Mick Jackson, chief
executive officer, of Skills
for Logistics, commented:
“Now more than ever it is
important that organisations
in the warehousing
supply chain acknowledge
the importance of up
skilling their workforces in
order to maintain a competitive
edge through difficult
economic times.
“Skills for Logistics has
developed qualifications
and training programmes
that the sector can tap
into in order to benefit
their business’ bottom
line. However, we are
keen to do more to ensure
ABOVE: Derrick Potter and Dr Mick Jackson sign
the MOU at Multimodal
that solutions offered to
the industry are relevant
and tailored to meet specific
business needs. We
are confident that we can,
through the signing of the
MOU and by working
closely with UKWA, produce
highly relevant qualifications
and programmes
across the
warehousing sector."
Roger Williams, chief
executive officer UKWA,
said: “Despite much of
the excellent work undertaken
by Skills for
Logistics in recent years,
there remains a gap
between the needs of
warehouse operatives and
managers and the current
training and qualifications
available from existing
training providers.
“UKWA has been looking
for some time to take
a lead in addressing this
situation and is delighted
to partner Skills for
Logistics in developing
ways of providing nationwide
generic logistics
training and bespoke
training and qualifications
in those areas where
there are none.
“By working closely
together, Skills for Logistics
and UKWA hope to focus
on the common logisticsrelated
skills development
issues. We will look to do
this through influencing
policy makers and opinion
formers in order to
increase both public and
private funding of training.”
Dr Mick Jackson
and UKWA Chairman
Derrick Potter signed
the MOU during a ceremony
on the UKWA
Pavilion at the recent
Multimodal exhibition.
NEC, Birmingham.
No increase in UKWA Annual Subscription
It is the time of year for UKWA membership subscriptions to be
renewed. There is no increase in the Annual Subscription rate across
all membership categories. And, to make payment easier, members
can, if they wish, spread their cost of their subscription over a number
of installments payable by direct debit.
Further details on the range of payment options on offer are available
on request from Michael Davison, UKWA’s membership services manager
or Sakina Cherawalla, the Association’s recruitment and marketing
manager, at Walter House.
April 2009
www.ukwa.org.uk