Gas courses????

[Toolbox]

Thanks for all the replies.Think it's best to find placement with a company first b4 parting with my redundy on a course but how many companies would employ a 44 year old apprentice.

 

[Blasphemous]

Thanks for all the replies.Think it's best to find placement with a company first b4 parting with my redundy on a course but how many companies would employ a 44 year old apprentice.

Toolbox,
You are almost answering your own question. There is a Law against Age Discrimination in this country but it is flouted every single day.

That aside, you are right, your first approach should be to sound out the local Plumbers in your area. If they aren't willing then you will struggle anyway with achieving your required 'Work Experience' time for Gas NVQ. If you can find some that are willing, I'd try and spend a week with one of them before you even go near a Plumbing Course. You may find that you hate the trade. It happens!

Your biggest problem is one of competition. As you may have picked up from one or two of the posts, there are plenty of Plumbers/Heating Engineers etc out there chasing work. So why would I let you come and gain work experience within my company in order for you to gain Corgi and become ANOTHER one of my competitors?

However, replies to your question obviously haven't put you off Plumbing and one could argue that is a good thing, but don't look at it being a profitable career for at least the first 2 to 3 years working for yourself. That's just simple 'new business start-up' projections. It doesn't factor in 'technical' aspects that you will require.

If you have an alternative income or do not need to make a great deal of money then you should be fine. If this will be the main source of your income then you need to think long and hard before taking the 'chance'. One thing you may also want to factor into your decision is, do you have mortgage protection for redundancy? If you do then that is one relief for you but it also means that if you do train for this trade and you do find a job/go self-employed, then your redundancy protection payments for your mortgage obviously stop. Depending on the type of plan you have, that could mean that you will not be entitled to further redundancy payments withing 12 months of this payment. Which could possibly pose a problem considering the current state of the housing market! I'm not saying that you shouldn't do anything because it will affect your mortgage protection plan but I'd be thinking long and hard about it first.

Now if you're still up for it, get on the blower tomorrow and speak to local Plumbers. Good Luck... you'll need it!