25 years of transforming lives through WULF learning and training
This Welsh Government-funded initiative has transformed tens of thousands of lives over the last quarter of a decade through over 200 union-led projects.
WULF has taught Mark how to read and write.
It has given Pru the skills to be able to progress in her career from admin assistant to senior manager in HMRC’s Large Business Directorate.
It helped Joanne study for the license she needed for the next step in her aircraft engineering career.
And it protected vehicle maintenance jobs in Swansea by giving Council employees training on electric vehicle maintenance.
WULF is social partnership in action
WULF empowers workers to agree workplace training offers with their employer. This is what makes it unique – trade unions, on behalf of the workforce, can ensure that workers’ needs are met by negotiating with bosses.
This is social partnership in action, and this is why it has been so successful in creating workplace training offers that attract people who are less likely to participate in adult education, as well as those who face a greater risk of discrimination at work.
WULF in 2024 is funded by the Welsh Government, administered by TUC Cymru and run by dedicated WULF project managers. They work with course and skills providers, as well as reps, to support learners up and down the country, in every workplace sector and every region of Wales.
But it didn’t always look like this.
The history of the Wales Union Learning Fund
The negotiations around Wales having its own Union Learning Fund started prior to devolution. Discussions with the Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain, began about 12 months before the first WULF fund was announced in 1999.
The Union Learning Fund already existed in England so it was important that unions in Wales had access to a similar fund. TUC Cymru welcomed the Secretary of State’s enthusiasm to support a Wales Union Learning Fund, but the bidding process was very different to how it operates today.
There were two pots of money that unions could access, one was directly funded from UK Government. The other fund was from European funding. It was a bigger pot of money, but had to be match-funded by unions.
TUC Cymru organised lots of briefings to help unions apply to WULF. This started the success of a new fund that would help unions support learning for their members. A few years later, the European fund element was dropped – we were ahead of the curve on Brexit! - which led to a much more straightforward application process for unions.
The changing focus of WULF
Back in 1999-2000, WULF had four main areas of focus.
1) Basic Skills initiative to develop union badged CD Rom material (the height of modernism at the time!) for literacy and numeracy, to raise awareness of Basic Skills issues amongst trade union reps and officers, and to pilot workplace Basic Skills programmes.
2) Building up a base of ULRs to equip a network of union learning reps with the skills they required to provide members with front line advice and guidance on learning, ahead of this role gaining statutory rights in 2002.
3) A Schools Project to introduce lifelong learning to young people as part of the wider issue of rights and responsibilities at work.
4) Working with Further Education institutions to develop partnerships between colleges and trades unionists so that colleges were able to respond to the needs of trade union members in their area.
Now 18 different unions run learning and skills projects based on what their members tell them are priorities. These projects include:
• Mental health awareness training at many workplaces, including CAF rolling stock UK
• Training probation officers on how to support service users who are problem gamblers.
• Teaching care workers British Sign Language to be able to communicate better with their clients.
• Signposting to the wide range of free online learning opportunities available including the new union learning website developed with the Open University
Read more about current WULF projects and how you can get involved
WULF provides union-led learning to everyone
WULF is open to everyone – you don’t have to be a member of a union to benefit. It is the only Welsh Government fund aimed purely at supporting people in work. And we know that investment in workplace learning is the key to unlocking great careers.
The success of WULF is evidenced not only in the stories of the lives transformed, but by the numbers of people who’ve benefitted. In the last three-year funding period alone, over 30,000 people took part in WULF funded training or learning. 95% of those who responded to our survey said they would recommend WULF training or learning. And one in 10 felt that their learning had led to them securing a new role.
WULF clearly benefits workers, their employers and society more broadly. Welsh Government’s continued investment over the last quarter of a century is testament to this and their support for trade union-led learning. Here’s to the next 25 years!