South Yorkshire Skills Bank Cyber Security Training
Build greater cyber awareness, incident readiness and resilience across your workforce through practical training supported by the South Yorkshire Skills Bank.
Skills Bank provides eligible South Yorkshire businesses with a financial contribution towards workforce training that supports business growth, development and resilience. Depending on the size of your business and the strength of your application, up to 60% of the eligible training cost could be funded.
Optimise Cyber Solutions will work with you before you apply to understand your training needs, recommend the most appropriate programme and prepare a clear training proposal aligned with your business objectives.
Develop a more cyber-aware and resilient workforce
Cyber threats increasingly target employees, business information and everyday working practices. Organisations need people who can recognise suspicious activity, protect sensitive information and respond confidently when something goes wrong.
South Yorkshire Skills Bank gives eligible employers an opportunity to access a financial contribution towards training that supports measurable business growth, workforce development or organisational resilience.
Rather than providing generic training in isolation, Optimise works with your organisation to identify its risks, responsibilities and development needs. Training can then be tailored around your workforce, sector and operational environment.
Skills Bank can support accredited, non-accredited and bespoke training where the proposed development is connected to the organisation's planned growth or resilience.
Key points
How it works
Getting started is simple. Arrange an initial call with Optimise, identify the cyber security training your organisation needs and work with us to prepare the information required for your Skills Bank application.
Arrange a call with Optimise
Speak with our team about your organisation, workforce, current cyber security challenges and the business outcomes you want the training to support.
Define your training requirements
We will recommend an appropriate programme, identify the employees who would benefit and prepare a training proposal covering delivery, content, costs and expected outcomes.
Apply to Skills Bank
Your business submits its application to SYMCA. Applications are assessed for eligibility, business impact, skills need, economic value, value for money and deliverability before a funding decision is made.
Why invest in cyber security training?
Cyber security is not solely an IT responsibility. Employees across every department handle information, use digital systems and make decisions that can either strengthen or weaken the organisation's security.
Build greater cyber awareness
Help employees understand common cyber threats, recognise suspicious behaviour and make safer decisions when using email, systems, devices and business information.
Prepare for cyber incidents
Give employees, managers and leaders the confidence to identify, report and respond appropriately when a potential cyber incident occurs.
Reduce the risk of human error
Practical training helps employees recognise phishing, social engineering, unsafe information sharing and other behaviours frequently exploited by cybercriminals.
Protect information and systems
Improve how employees access, store, share and protect sensitive business, employee and customer information across different working environments.
Strengthen business resilience
Prepare your organisation to respond more effectively, limit disruption and maintain essential operations if systems or information become unavailable.
Support compliance and governance
Help employees understand their information-security responsibilities and support wider requirements relating to data protection, governance, risk and accountability.
Flexible around your business
Training can be delivered remotely or face-to-face and scheduled around employee availability, working patterns and operational requirements.
Create practical workplace improvements
Employees develop knowledge and behaviours they can apply immediately, supporting safer working practices and more confident decision-making throughout the organisation.
What our training can cover
Cyber security awareness training
Develop a stronger understanding of everyday cyber threats and the actions employees can take to protect the organisation.
Training can cover phishing emails, social engineering, password security, multifactor authentication, secure information sharing, data breaches, mobile devices, remote working and reporting suspicious activity.
Employees learn how cyber incidents happen, why people are frequently targeted and how small changes in behaviour can significantly reduce organisational risk.
Cyber incident response training
Prepare your employees and leadership team to respond effectively when a cyber incident occurs.
Our instructor-led cyber incident response training explores how incidents should be identified, escalated, managed and communicated. Practical scenarios allow participants to consider the decisions they may need to make during a real event.
Training can be aligned with your organisation's systems, responsibilities, incident-response arrangements and business-continuity priorities.
Cyber security for business leaders
Help directors, senior managers and decision-makers understand cyber risk and their responsibilities before, during and after an incident.
The training explores business impact, leadership decisions, reporting responsibilities, internal and external communications, regulatory considerations, operational resilience and recovery planning.
Technical knowledge is not required. The programme translates complex cyber security subjects into practical business risks and decisions.
Safe and responsible use of AI
Support employees in adopting artificial intelligence tools while protecting sensitive information and maintaining appropriate oversight.
Training can cover confidentiality, data protection, accuracy, hallucinations, intellectual property, human review, cyber security risks and the development of responsible workplace practices.
This helps organisations take advantage of AI-enabled productivity while reducing the risk of inappropriate or uncontrolled use.
Who is this opportunity ideal for?
This opportunity is intended for established businesses operating in South Yorkshire that have identified workforce training linked to growth, development, productivity or resilience.
To be eligible, a business generally needs an operational base in South Yorkshire, established trading activity and a clear case showing how the proposed training supports its development. Businesses of any size can apply, although the maximum contribution varies according to business size.
Not sure whether your business is suitable?
You do not need an internal cyber security department or a technically experienced workforce. Training can support employees working across operations, administration, finance, human resources, customer service, sales, marketing, compliance, management and IT.
You will need a genuine training requirement and a clear explanation of how developing these skills will support the growth, development or resilience of your business.
How much funding could your business receive?
The final contribution depends on the size of the business and the strength of the application submitted to Skills Bank.
| Business size | Number of employees | Maximum contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | 0–9 | Up to 60% |
| Small | 10–49 | Up to 50% |
| Medium | 50–249 | Up to 40% |
| Large | 250 or more | Up to 30% |
Applications are assessed against the business growth case, training rationale, economic impact, public value, value for money, deliverability and risk. The percentages shown are maximum contribution levels and are not guaranteed.
Funding is subject to eligibility and formal approval by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The final contribution will be determined through the Skills Bank assessment and appraisal process.
Why tailored, employer-led training makes the difference
Generic online training can be difficult to translate into meaningful workplace improvements when it is disconnected from the organisation's risks, systems and employees.
Optimise begins by understanding the business. Training can then be aligned with your workforce, working practices and identified risks, helping employees apply their learning within real workplace situations.
Everything you need to strengthen cyber resilience
Optimise provides an initial training consultation, workforce-needs analysis, programme recommendations, course proposals, instructor-led delivery, practical learning activities and ongoing support.
Training can be delivered using an existing Optimise programme or designed around the particular needs of your organisation. This could include an individual course, a combination of training areas or a wider workforce-development programme.
Our team will help you understand the available training, costs and intended outcomes before you apply. The formal application, eligibility assessment and funding decision are managed independently by SYMCA. Businesses are required to include their selected courses, training provider, learner numbers and costs within the application.
Book a funding consultation
Complete the enquiry form and our team will contact you to discuss your organisation, workforce-development needs and the cyber security training you are considering.
You do not need to have selected a particular course. We will help you identify the most appropriate training and explain the information likely to be required before you begin the formal Skills Bank application.
By submitting this form, you are requesting an initial consultation with Optimise Cyber Solutions. This does not constitute an application to Skills Bank and does not guarantee eligibility or funding.
Frequently asked questions
Build a more cyber-aware and incident-ready workforce
Employees are an essential part of every organisation's cyber security. With the right knowledge, they can recognise suspicious activity, protect information and respond more confidently when something goes wrong.
South Yorkshire Skills Bank could contribute towards the cost of practical cyber security and AI safety training that supports the growth, development and resilience of your business.
Start by arranging an initial consultation with Optimise. We will discuss your requirements, recommend suitable training and help you prepare the training information needed for your application.
Funding is subject to eligibility, application assessment and formal approval by SYMCA.