Food and drink business support and funding

Skills support for food and drink businesses

Guide

Developing up-to-date knowledge and skills in your workforce is important to all businesses. It can improve competitiveness and boost your business performance and profitability.

Invest Northern Ireland skills support

Invest NI offers a range of skills development options to local businesses:

  • Skills development - available to small businesses that export or plan to export. Financial support is available to those eligible through the Skills Advancement Grant and the Skills Growth Programmes for SMEs and Large Enterprises and/or Foreign Direct Investors. Get training support.
  • Leadership and coaching - for businesses intending to sell outside Northern Ireland support through business mentoring, leadership training and coaching. Find out about the Invest NI Leadership and Capability Development Programme.

Food and Drink Sector Skills

Food and Drink Sector Skills is an employer-led body which champions the skills agenda on behalf of the Northern Ireland agri-food sector. They provide training courses to help improve the skills within food and drink businesses. Find out about Food and Drink Sector Skills.

National Skills Academy for Food & Drink

Helping businesses in the food and drink sector boost productivity, innovation, profitability and growth by accessing skilled workforce training, vocational study and skill upgrades. Find out about the support from the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink.

Lantra

Lantra helps local businesses in the food and drink sector access training, qualifications, skills and knowledge. Find out more about Lantra in Northern Ireland.

Funding to employ apprenticeships

The Department for the Economy (DfE) provide funding for employing apprenticeships for food and drink manufacturing. Find out about the finance and funding for apprenticeships.