ScreenSkills invites training providers or industry professionals to tender for new training designed to address skills shortages and gaps and to help build a more inclusive workforce in the UK animation industry.
Training for the UK animation industry is supported by the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund (ASF) with contributions from productions companies, broadcasters and SVoDs in the UK.
Investment addresses the skills and development needs of the UK animation industry, tackling skill gaps and shortages, and ensuring the robust growth of the sector is secured with a fully skilled and inclusive workforce. All priorities are endorsed by the industry-led Animation Skills Council.
The Animation Skills Fund is looking for an organisation or individual/s who can design and run a Strategic technology leadership in animation production for up to 20 people, aimed at mid to senior career level professionals.
Who can apply?
ScreenSkills welcomes applications from individuals, partnerships or organisations that have a proven track record of delivering successful industry-standard training projects. We particularly welcome applications from providers based in the UK nations and regions, including partnerships between organisations and/or in partnership with freelancers who have worked as a mid to senior level producers or technology directors in animation.
The successful applicant will need to demonstrate their understanding of animation technologies, leadership and production training requirements, including the diversity challenges facing the industry and must clearly demonstrate that they have the resources to track the career progression of participants beyond the life of the programme.
We particularly welcome applications from those based in the UK nations and regions, including partnerships between organisations and/or individuals with expertise in animation.
If applicants are already delivering similar training and can expand their offer to include the scope outlined below, they are also welcomed to apply.
Applicants must:
- demonstrate evidence of appropriate, recent engagement with the industry in the design and delivery of the programme
- meet critical diversity targets as outlined in this tender, including:
- making reasonable adjustments to the training (whether face-to-face, content or online and including during the application process) to make it accessible to a diverse audience – we will ask for evidence of your approach and implementation
- having an equality policy in place as an employer
- having a monitoring system in place to track the diversity of the delegates, see this guide
- providing diversity and inclusivity training to facilitators –
- (see free ACAS online training).
- gather long-term destination data from the delegates to prove impact of training utilising the ScreenSkills monitoring questionnaire
- develop a clear structure for the training, ensuring that it is outcome focused.
Key requirements
The applicant must design, manage, market, recruit and deliver the programme.
The outcomes from the training for participants should include:
- strategically evaluate emerging animation technologies (ROI, team impact, creative potential)
- lead pipeline transformations while maintaining production momentum
- make data-informed decisions about technology adoption timing and scope
- manage change effectively across departments including with co-production partners with different technical readiness levels
- balance innovation with stability in production environments
The training schedule should consider participants currently in full-time employment and be designed to accommodate those with demanding work commitments. Offering flexible or more manageable arrangements such as a greater number of shorter two-hour online sessions will be welcome.
ScreenSkills expects the programme to be delivered over a duration total of 32 hours within an agreed 8 week period.
To reach as many participants as possible throughout the UK an online course delivery is preferable.
After registering an expression of interest by the 4 November deadline, applicants can expect to hear back from ScreenSkills within one week. If selected for the next round, there will be a four week period to submit a full application that will include a schedule and budget along with further course details. This full application will then be assessed by three independent industry experts over a further two weeks followed by a further two weeks for full Skills Council approval.
Participant aims
The training should be for a minimum of 20 participants based across the UK and should target mid to senior level animation producers and technical directors in animation.
The following are the minimum diversity targets for this programme:
- 40% of beneficiaries based outside London
- 10-30% from a minority ethnic group (ethnicity aim)
- 45-55% women (gender aim)
- 12-20% disability (disability aim)
- 25-40% lower socioeconomic background (social inclusion aim)
Providing access to diverse crew and talent is key to our delivery objectives. All trainers and companies delivering programmes that are funded by the Animation Skills Fund must meet the identified diversity requirements. If they fail to do so, they must show robust evidence of why a target has not been met.
We require all Skills Fund-funded programme participants to set up a ScreenSkills profile via our website and to provide diversity data at this point. Participants must complete their profile and diversity data before the training begins. If diversity targets are not met, the project may be at risk of losing funding.
How to apply
At this stage we are requesting an expression of interest. Please complete this brief document outlining the key aspects of the proposed programme, how the key requirements of the training sessions will be met, information about the company and the provider’s capacity to deliver training.
How much can you apply for?
We are looking for bids of up to £35,000.00
All our funds are treated as grants and therefore are not applicable for VAT.
Deadlines
All expressions of interest should be sent directly to the Animation Skills Fund Team via the 'register interest' button by 4 November 2025.
If you are successful in being shortlisted, you will be required to submit an online application form and a budget. The deadline for full applications is 4 December 2025 and applicants will be notified of a decision by 18 December 2025
Other useful information
If you progress to full application, we will expect you to detail your plans for ensuring the programme and application process are accessible including, but not limited to, alternative application formats, marketing and the delivery of training.
As part of accessibility, we expect your budget to include a reasonable bursary allocation for delegates who risk being excluded due to costs including, but not limited to, travel and caring responsibilities.
Please ensure that, where applicable, costs are shown in your budget inclusive of VAT.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this tender, or your proposal, before submitting your tender, please contact kieran.argo@screenskills.com