Missing out on money from the Employer Investment Fund will inevitably change the way that the sector skills council SummitSkills conducts its business. Ian Vallely reports
SummitSkills has failed to secure finance from the Employer Investment Fund (EIF), a pot of money designed to stimulate employer investment in skills and improve their use in the workplace.

The news has huge implications for the way SummitSkills is run and could affect the provision of skills across the building services sector. 'This is disappointing news for our sector and we are assessing the impact it will have,' says chief executive Keith Marshall OBE.

He insists that SummitSkills, the building services industry's sector skills council, will continue in its work of improving safety and safeguarding building services engineering.

But losing out on the EIF was a bitter blow. For Mr Marshall, the reasons are clear. As he says, the Government inevitably places its money where its priorities lie: 'As a sector we have some difficulty in delivering what the Government wants. It is keen to buy more apprenticeships, get more young people into work, growth, and those sorts of things, and we operate in a sector that is simply trying to survive.

'The Government is talking about innovation and ambition and companies are talking about going out of business. There is a disjunction.

'In putting these bids together, we were trying to match what employers said they wanted against what the Government was prepared to buy [and] there is a big gap [between the two].'

However, Mr Marshall remains committed to driving forward what he describes as the vitally important work of SummitSkills, namely safeguarding standards and addressing skills issues, 'which the Government has recognised that SummitSkills does effectively by awarding the organisation the licence to continue in October 2009'.

And, he is upbeat about the future: SummitSkills' key stakeholders - the five main trade associations within the sector (Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors; Heating & Ventilating Contractors' Association; Electrical Contractors' Association; Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers' Federation, and SELECT) - have reaffirmed their support for the organisation 'and we will go on'.

SummitSkills has been forced to look again at the way it operates in the light of the funding gap. Mr Marshall again: 'We are going to have to ensure that the business model is fit for purpose and we are going to have to seek funding from sources elsewhere.'

And this could lead to a smaller organisation: 'Depending on how successful we are in that area, then ultimately, among other things, it has an impact on the size of the organisation.'

The process of re-engineering SummitSkills has already begun. Mr Marshall has put in place two specific activities aimed at identifying alternative funding sources. He explains: 'We have tended to look for money primarily from the UK Government, particularly in the skills area. In actual fact there are all sorts of other organisations which potentially fund projects in the skills arena.

'We are looking at Europe very closely, but there are also charitable organisations. There are other sources of funding so we are opening our minds to a whole different set of opportunities while staying true to the tenets of the organisation...

'I also have a team looking at potential commercial activities - things we might do to generate revenue - but, once again, I am keeping them very clearly inside the purpose of the organisation. It is about the skills, competence and qualifications the sector needs now, but more particularly moving into the future.'

Commercial activities might include introducing ways to turn projects into operations that employers are prepared to pay for rather than simply support when the Government is paying.

SummitSkills' funding is secure until the end of March this year. Since it still has a contract to deliver its services, says Mr Marshall, it has time to regroup and reassess its business plan.

As he points out: 'We are not going out of business. We will be looking closely at the business model under which we operate, but we will still be here. 'The job that we have to do in supporting the sector in terms of standards and qualifications is too important to let drop and I think our key stakeholders understand that...

'This is a disappointment and a challenge, but it is not a disaster.'