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 hgh-end TV and film.
Training for the UK high-end TV industry and film industry is supported by the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund and Film Skills Fund (with contributions from productions companies, broadcasters and SVoDs in the UK).
The High-end TV Skills Fund and Film Skills Fund is looking for an organisation or individual/s who can design, recruit and deliver a Step up to costume supervisor programme for 20 people.
Who can apply?
ScreenSkills welcomes applications from training providers 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 in the costume department.
The successful applicant will need to demonstrate their understanding of HETV 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.
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
- discuss and agree with those taking part in the programme that they will provide feedback on the training if requested which would include providing ScreenSkills with a quote on their experience on the training.
Key requirements
The applicant must design, manage, market, recruit and deliver a Step-Up to costume supervisor programme covering all of the fundamental skills to be an effective supervisor in the costume team.
This intensive course will break down the key responsibilities and details of this important role and is essential knowledge for a costume person moving up to supervising. The course will be open to those who have a minimum of five years’ experience in costume, in the film and TV industry, and are looking to step up to, or have recently started, supervising and will should cover every aspect of the job that can be applied across various budget levels of productions:
- Script breakdown, set up and staffing
- Management
- Running the department - day to day, shooting overseas and wrap
- Budgeting
This training should reach 10 participants in the North and 10 participants in the South of England. There will be 10 participants from HETV and 10 participants from Film.
The HETV Skills Fund is interested in hearing interpretations of how this programme can be best delivered to reach a wide audience, and how the training will be effective in supporting professionals stepping up to the role of costume supervisor.
All participants are advised to attend HETV’s wider leadership and management and managing mental health training.
Participant aims
The training should be for a minimum of 20 participants working in HETV & Film based based in the North and South of England, who are ready to step up into the role of costume supervisor.
The following are the minimum diversity aims for this programme:
- 50 – 60% of beneficiaries are based outside London (nations and regions aim)
- 10 - 30% minority ethnic (ethnicity aim)
- 45 - 55% women (gender aim)
- 12 - 20% disabled (disability aim)
- 25 – 40% lower socioeconomic background (social inclusion aim)
ScreenSkills aims to go beyond legal diversity requirements and considers additional measures of inclusivity, including:
- employment status
- whether a person is returning to work following leave
- geographical location (including representation of nations and regions)
- socio-economic background.
Providing access to diverse crew and talent is key to our delivery objectives. All trainers and companies delivering programmes that are funded by the High-end TV 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. Failure to do so will put the project at risk of loss of funding.
We require all Skills Fund-funded programme participants to set up a ScreenSkills profile via our website which allows us to gather data and track beneficiaries. Participants must complete their profile and diversity data before the training begins.
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.
If you have access requirements and would like an alternative way to submit your application or would like any support in completing the expression of interest form, please email emily.gunn@screenskills.com who will be happy to help.
How much can you apply for?
We are looking for bids of up to £40,000 for the course creation, training, management and pastoral care.
All our funds are treated as grants and therefore are not applicable for VAT.
Deadlines
Please save your completed form with this naming convention: ‘EOI – HETV & Film Step Up to Costume Supervisor 26/27’
Then send your completed form to emily.gunn@screenskills.com with the same naming convention in the subject line by 21 June 2026.
If you are successful in being shortlisted, you will be required to submit an online application form and a budget the week of the 22 June 2026.
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.
If you intend to include a charge to the delegates for the training, we will also expect your budget to include a reasonable bursary allocation (in line with the social inclusion target) to ensure no potential applicants are deterred.
Please ensure that, where applicable, costs are shown in your budget inclusive of VAT. This also applies to any delegates fees you may charge.
If you intend to collect applications through your own website (rather than through ScreenSkills), we will expect assurances of your understanding of and compliance with GDPR.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this tender, or your proposal, before submitting your Expression of Interest, please contact us at jacqui.tauntonfenton@screenskills.com