Road to Logistics CIC is a Not-For-Profit training provider, specialising in supporting learners who are further away from the labour market, to obtain their HGV licence, with a direct pathway in employment with one of our employer partners. We were established with seed funding from The Department of Transport, and have close links to government and our national trade bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Our target learners are individuals who face barriers to employment including ex-offenders, veterans, long-term unemployed, individuals with neuro-diverse or mental health conditions, carers and parents returning to work. Our customers are logistics employers who require HGV drivers.

We are a small, but mighty team of 6 people. The purpose of Road to Logistics is to provide a solution to the industries ongoing struggles with talent shortage, by improving diversity and inclusion in the sector. We do this by removing barriers both in terms of cost and accessibility, for our learners to then embark on a period of training to gain a HGV or warehousing and FLT qualification, with a direct pathway into employment with local partner logistics and warehousing companies.

We have already successfully delivered a number of courses across the region including:

• Felixstowe – DWP funded
• Ipswich – DWP funded
• HMP Hollesley Bay – MoJ and DWP funded
• Freeports East – Council / Freeports funded

We have built a strong network of alliances across the region, including links with the Chamber of Commerce and the local council. We also have relationships with local, senior level leaders such as George Vesty, and with numerous stakeholders working within the Sizewell project.

This case study is the work we have recently completed in partnership with Freeports East Skills Fund. The funding from Freeports East has been invaluable in allowing us to provide free HGV training to local individuals who would never have been able to afford the cost of licence acquisition themselves. We have been able to train 6 people who are all now fully qualified as Category C+E (articulated or drawbar vehicle) drivers and 5 are now fully fledged drivers. The sixth has just passed her test and will be entering employment shortly.

This funding has also supported the local employers who have now given careers to these individuals with no recruitment costs attached. It is a viable new source of qualified drivers for local employers which is a vital service in this current climate given the low availability of qualified drivers and the extremely small margins the hauliers have to work to. The project is all about supporting people who would already face barriers to employment, through a HGV training program and into sustainable employment.

Our courses go far beyond the standard vocational training, offering modules to build confidence, get people work ready, and give them a better understanding of the logistics sector and their role as a HGV driver. We also offer personal budgeting and finance advise, a health and safety course, and full wraparound mentor support that our learners can access from day one of the program up to 12 months after they start work. We also create a vital peer-to-peer support network and create a platform for our learners to communicate and support each other through their shared experiences and training journey.

Our six learners came from a diverse range of backgrounds and included 3 ex-offenders, two long-term unemployed and one single parent who was experiencing homelessness with her two young children. As a group they worked hard to achieve their vocational licence with the support of Road to Logistics.

The powerful thing about the project is that we are not giving handouts, we remove barriers so that these individuals can be empowered to take on what is a difficult qualification to achieve, and for many of our learners, it is their first qualification. This really helps to build their confidence and feelings of self-worth, and then they have access to jobs paying salaries of circa £40k a year, transforming their lives and their families. This also has a big impact on local businesses who through Road to Logistics, can access fully qualified drivers for free.

Our aim was to successfully train and place in employment, 6 individuals who would never have had the means to access this type of training and get through the course on their own. We have accomplished this thanks to the support from Freeport East.

We hope to keep growing, supporting more people into training and sustainable employment in logistics. We have plans to set up a base in Suffolk, given the amount of job opportunities there will be through initiatives such as Freeports East and Sizewell.

To date we have trained over 520 people, and 89% of those now have careers in logistics. We want to build on this success, training more people to achieve meaningful careers and providing an impactful solution to the logistics industries talent shortage issue.