ADVANCE Care Training was formed by Lisa Duff and Karen Martin who were inspired by a desire to see a skilled and knowledgeable workforce within the health and social care sector.

As registered nurses both recognised the important work that carers and support staff do and wanted to enable these staff to gain qualifications and recognition for their valued work in caring for others.

Lisa and Karen wanted to ensure care delivery was of the highest quality with a vision to drive up standards of care across the UK.

Karen and Lisa met while working in the workforce development department of a large NHS Trust.

They wanted the freedom to design and develop bespoke programmes for organisations to develop and train their staff.

As specialists in learning disabilities, the directors focused on this specialism, training staff in the unique skills they required.

Advance Care Training is an accredited assessment centre with both City & Guilds and EDI Awarding organisations.

They include QCF vocational programmes such as awards, certificates and diplomas and apprenticeships.

Other courses includes specialist learning disability training and generic training.

Management qualifications can also be taken.

ACT delivers its programmes either in-house for a company or in its own training facility at Mercury House.

It prides itself on flexibility to offer bespoke programmes and courses to suit different organisational needs, and offer classroom-based and distance learning courses.

Karen and Lisa meet employers to complete a training needs assessment to identify what is required and focus on the service needs.

As some courses and programmes attract funding, ACT provides advice and guidance on eligibility and access to the different funding streams.

When setting up the business ACT looked at incubation offices at Mercury House and found the services invaluable for starting out.

"In the early days we took up the offer of a NBV business mentor and still have one today," said Lisa.

"Running our own business was our desire but it was also a very steep learning curve, and the start up workshops run by NBV were essential in developing the skills we needed.

"We are passionate about what we do and this drives us forward and keeps us focused. "There have been many challenges in the last five years, not to mention a country in recession, which has resulted in huge public sector service cuts. "These challenges have prompted us to refocus and diversify our business, resulting in expanding our portfolio of courses on offer."

Over the years ACT has built up a good reputation with many customers who book repeat business year on year and new business via word of mouth and recommendations from others.

"We have been able to grow steadily, and now have a full-time office manager, Amelia, and a team of six assessors and trainers. We hand-pick our staff because of their qualifications and experience in the care sector.

"Looking ahead we are keen to grow and develop the services we offer, being responsive at all times to market changes such as regulation, employer need and developments in the care sector."