Cycling UK Forum

After 20 years, Cycle Training UK (CTUK) is to cease training at the end of October.

https://www.cycletraining.co.uk/news-and-info/news/2018/10/02/cycle-training-uk-to-close/

Bikeability is brought to you by the gig economy and short-term and zero-hours contracts

I think they've got the wrong end of the stick. Some work and professions don't lend themselves to full-time secure employment - they just don't. So it makes sense if a work provider/employer can offer work on good terms with the interests of its (inevitably) free-lance contractors at its heart. This company seemed well placed to do that so I think it has thrown the baby out with the bath water.

I too work seasonally so in the winter do other things. Lots of work by its nature is intermittent or seasonal - ask any actor. So it makes sense to have several irons in the fire. Most people are flexible enough to manage this. Yes, we all want certainty (as do mortgage lenders) but that comes with the risk that it all comes crashing down. Skills and aptitudes are transferables and a good occasional employer is better than a non-existent permanent employer.

(inevitably) free-lance contractors

There are plenty of councils employing Instructors on zero or irregular hours contracts, with the same employment rights as other council employees, so I don't see what is inevitable about it being freelance.

It seems to me that although CTUK were ethical employers in terms of trying to provide reasonable t&c's for the people who worked for them, they were in effect feeding the monster of public services outsourcing, a process that as time goes on and the 'undercutters' get to work effectively moves public money from the wage packets of Instructors to a handful of company directors. CTUK helped to feed the monster and then it ate them.

Hats off to CTUK for the way they improved cycle training. I feel for all their employees who will now be staring the gig economy in the face.

horizon wrote:I think they've got the wrong end of the stick. Some work and professions don't lend themselves to full-time secure employment - they just don't. So it makes sense if a work provider/employer can offer work on good terms with the interests of its (inevitably) free-lance contractors at its heart. This company seemed well placed to do that so I think it has thrown the baby out with the bath water.

I too work seasonally so in the winter do other things. Lots of work by its nature is intermittent or seasonal - ask any actor. So it makes sense to have several irons in the fire. Most people are flexible enough to manage this. Yes, we all want certainty (as do mortgage lenders) but that comes with the risk that it all comes crashing down. Skills and aptitudes are transferables and a good occasional employer is better than a non-existent permanent employer.

Pretty much this. I don't need to work, but lime to keep my hand in. Some of the high level training I deliver is paid, some done for free to charities, but it's all pretty irregular and wouldn't feed a doormouse if it were my only income.

mjr wrote:Bikeability is brought to you by the gig economy and short-term and zero-hours contracts

Unfortunately the nature of the training makes that the only viable option and, to be fair, it works for most of us, who are just topping up another income (in my case a pension). I can take work as and when I'm available and reject work that's too far away or awkward to get to. In an ideal world we would have full-time trainers, properly funded from public money but until such time Bikeability training for adults becomes much more widespread we're stuck with what we have. It's still way better than Norfolk CC's nonstandard training using unpaid volunteers!

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly using hovercraft full of eels.