I think it’s fair to say that for most people and businesses 2020 has been a challenging year that will not be forgot in a hurry. Here at Trade Skills 4U we have been working harder than ever to ensure we continue to deliver the best possible service for our customers during these unprecedented times. We always had big plans for 2020 especially in terms of our new 4 Steps programme and online delivery. In fact the first day of lockdown happened to be the very first day of delivery for our new delivery model. So not the best timing but still we have survived and then thrived in the face of adversity.

We have never been prouder of our staff and the work they have put in over the last 8 months to ensure that we continue to lead the market in more ways than just student numbers. Despite the various challenges we have achieved a hell of a lot over the past year including:

  • Brand new 4 Steps Programme – You can now step on and step off your journey to becoming and electrician. Our new flexible programme has been a real hit especially during these turbulent times.
  • Brand new eLearning Modules launched – Customer can now study some key subjects via eLearning. This can be done at home or anywhere you fancy and at a time you want.
  • Virtual Classroom launched and live within 2 weeks of Lockdown – We have successfully moved much of our theory learning online. Virtual classroom has been used throughout lockdown but is a great tool that we will continue to utilise moving forwards.
  • Almost every student booked at the start of lockdown was moved to a new course date – We had to rebuild our schedule from scratch and then start booking existing customers onto new dates. This is one of the biggest challenges we have faced but we now have the processes and systems in place should we ever need to tackle this task again.
  • New customer care team set up – We have been receiving roughly double the number of calls we received last year. Many of these were existing customers looking to progress their journey. As such we have recruited more staff and created our Customer Care team who are dedicated to helping you reach your goals.
  • Updated website with improved booking function live – The new website went live at the end of July. This features improved navigation for desktop users and a slicker design.
  • New Student LMS launched allowing students to access course details online – We have also updated our student portal. You can now log in to view your course and booking details. Further improvements will be coming in the next few months including the ability to make payments through your portal.
  • Workshop and Classroom spaces updated to allow for social distancing – All workshops have been upgraded with partitions to assist with social distancing.New workshops have been built and are still being constructed in Gatwick and Warrington. Classrooms have been updated with new furniture and lower numbers to ensure the safety of our customers.
  • New Qualifications – Whilst all this has been going we are also the first to market with the brand new C&G 2377-77 PAT testing course. We have also launched NVQ’s which are the icing on the cake when it comes to getting qualified as a registered electrician. It means you can now take your full journey from start to finish with Trade Skills 4U.

So as we approach the end of 2020 I think we can all breathe a sign of relief that we made it to the end of the year. We want to say a massive thank you to all our staff who have worked extremely hard and dealt with a huge amount of change. We also want to thank all of our customers. In particular we know that it was hard to get through on the phones at times but that has now been fixed. As always we have listened to your feedback throughout and improved our offering.

We wish you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year!