Co-financing for training – for whom, where to get it

Anyone who has some time and feels the need to improve their qualifications can benefit from training and vocational courses. And he does not necessarily have to pay for them in full.

There has not been such a rich training offer in our country for a long time, also in the form of free training. All thanks to huge funds from the Human Capital Operational Program, which is used by offices, local governments and non-governmental organizations. They offer courses and training in almost every field. Also from this program come funds that can be used by entrepreneurs organizing or sending their employees to specialized vocational training.

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The unemployed can also learn for free

People with unemployment status may also benefit from training and co-financing under certain circumstances. Information on such courses should be found on the websites appropriate for the place of residence of voivodeship or poviat labor offices and marshal offices. This one is an aggregator of information on trainings, courses and conferences, where you can also get professional certificates. Part of the offer is paid, but in many courses participation is free, and the only problem for the unemployed may be the fact that the training organizations require the trainee to come from the voivodeship where they operate.

Online training

There are no such limitations, most often free e-learning trainings, which take place using special training platforms on the Internet. What trainings and courses can you take? Starting from hundreds of IT training, through accounting, accounting, marketing, logistics and language training. There is no shortage of those educating interpersonal skills, as well as in the field of human resource management. Currently, several thousand of this type of training and courses are being held or will be held in the near future. Often, in the case of free training, the order of applications decides about participation.

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Interestingly, some training companies have problems with finding people willing for free training and retraining. It sometimes happens that even by offering reimbursement of travel costs, meals, conference materials and of course free training, the project is not carried out due to the lack of participants.

“Crisis” offer for employers

The employer can take advantage of the times of crisis and recession to train his employees and receive funding for this purpose. The new anti-crisis act gives the employer opportunities. If he meets the criteria required by the act (including a drop in turnover by a dozen or so percent) and submits a correctly completed application, he has a chance to use the Labor Fund resources for training and professional retraining of his employees.

In order to reach for this money, it is necessary to document, inter alia, non-arrears with ZUS contributions and timely payment of salaries to employees. It is also worth knowing that the training proposals must meet the company’s needs. Nobody will pay extra for construction workers’ accountancy training, nor will they finance training courses giving welder’s qualifications for office workers.

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The trader must also ensure that the funds received will not be used, for example, for withdrawals. Over PLN 250 million has been planned in the budget for maintaining jobs next year. Some of them are money allocated to retraining and training employees.

Disabled and co-financed trainings

People with disabilities are in a particularly difficult situation on the labor market. For them, the opportunity to undergo training, retraining and acquiring new skills sometimes means “to be or not to be” in the company. Fortunately, employers, at least until June next year, can receive high funding for training employees with a disability certificate. An employer from the small business sector may receive a reimbursement of 80 percent of the cost of such training (as long as the sum does not exceed twice the average salary per student) if it is general training.

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Detailed trainings, i.e. those where the employee learns about issues that can only be used at his own workplace, qualify for a 55 percent co-financing. If there is a downside to this type of funding, it is only the nature of settlements with the staroste. The entrepreneur must first organize the training (or send an employee to it), pay for it, and only then can count on the reimbursement of the costs incurred. It is important, however, that a wide range of expenses is reimbursed – from hiring a sign interpreter, through paying the guardian of a physically disabled person, to travel costs of training participants and administrative services for training.

Katarzyna Piojda