UKFT works closely with Awarding Organisations to develop, review and update fashion and textile qualifications to ensure they are fit for the future requirements of our industry. We also safeguard and champion the provision and funding available.

Since the start of this year, developments include:

• SVQ in Leather and Textile Technology at SCQF Level 7  | Scotland – merging two separate SVQs into one to safeguard the qualification. It will also be available within the Modern Apprenticeship.

• SVQ in Kiltmaking at SCQF Level 6 | Scotland – this has been reviewed and now has flexibility within the offer to allow access to both hand and machine making processes (it was previously one or the other). This is also part of the Modern Apprenticeship in Fashion and Textiles (Heritage).

• SEG Awards Level 1 Award and Certificate in Sewing and Textiles | UK Wide – this was originally an entry level work-based learning qualification that was predominantly for the clothing, craft and soft furnishings industry. UKFT has introduced industrial processes such as sewing, pattern cutting, material cutting and inspection, which are now also within the occupational traineeship in England. This year, we have worked in collaboration with the Textile Centre of Excellence in Huddersfield added three units created especially for textile manufacturing processes. Textile care units are in the process of being introduced to include textile repair and garment recycling. This qualification is currently available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is scheduled for first availability in Scotland in September.

• National Occupational Standards in Textile Care Services | UK Wide – we have successfully reviewed the suite across the nations and it has been benchmarked to the apprenticeship review in England to ensure that the skills required are consistent across the four nations. Read more here.

• Updating existing Modern Apprenticeship in Fashion & Textiles ‘Heritage’ framework at SCQF Level 7 to add new SVQ in Leather & Textile Technology

Due to the nature of our industry, which is geographically spread with specialist roles, qualifications in fashion and textiles are often under threat because they don’t meet the minimum numbers required by government and the various funding agencies. This means that provision and/or funding could be withdrawn at short notice, which will have significant impact on the skilled workforce in our sector.

There have recently been a series of Ofqual consultations around qualifications with low numbers or low enrolments and UKFT lobbies hard to retain the existing portfolio. Unfortunately, the results of the consultations will now lead to a number of vocational qualifications with zero starts over the last four years being withdrawn across many sub-sectors. This in turn will have a knock-on effect for availability in both Wales and Northern Ireland. Apprenticeship frameworks in both those countries will be affected from September.

While this is disappointing for our sector, UKFT has already started work to ensure employer-led training is available to meet some of these requirements via UKFT Academy. Find out more here.

UKFT SKILLS & TRAINING