subject: Plumbers Warned Off Rogue Training Centres [print this page] Plumbers Warned Off Rogue Training CentresPlumbers Warned Off Rogue Training Centres
People hoping to retrain and become plumbers have been advised not to enrol on crash plumbing courses.Richard Clarke, chairman of 1st Action Plumbing, believes that more potential plumbers may become susceptible to rogue training centres which falsely claim to offer a recognised industry qualification in a short time period.Richard Clarke argues that the threat of rogue training centres has increased since the government announced that it would cut the budgets for adult learners by ten to 25 per cent resulting in many colleges axing plumbing courses.Rogue training centres will be aiming to fill the gap caused by the shortage of college plumbing courses."The plumbing industry is only going to suffer from these training cuts as it means that companies offering fast track courses for large sums of money will be able to prey more easily on those looking to get into the industry," said Richard Clarke.Summit-Skills, the sector skills council for the building and construction trade, has reported an increase in the number of unemployed people being targeted by centres offering substandard training for extortionate prices.Richard Clarke said that his business receives regular applications for plumbing jobs from candidates without the necessary skills because they have taken crash plumbing courses.Potential plumbers should only trust training centres which provide the City & Guilds NVQ 6129 level 2 as well as the NVQ level 3 as it is essential to complete these plumbing courses in order to become fully qualified.It is important to research training centres to check whether they are approved and accredited by recognised industry organisations such as City & Guilds for plumbing courses and the NICEIC for electrical courses.Reading reviews and feedback from previous students is another good way to ensure a centre's authenticity while some allow people to visit their site before beginning a course in order to assess their suitability."What is a shame is that our industry is prone to cowboys and undertrained, unreliable plumbers and by preventing people getting into the industry the correct way," added Richard Clarke.Richard Clarke went onto say that rogue training centres were damaging the plumbing industry's image as they were producing under qualified and unreliable plumbers."We want to ensure that everyone receives a reliable service from their plumber, and that 'cowboys' or unqualified tradesmen are eventually ostracized," he said.People looking to improve their basic plumbing skills may benefit from short and weekend plumbing courses.
