OLDHAM’S growing profile as a regional logistics base has been significantly boosted by the opening of a new £1 million Reverse Logistics Training Centre.

Council leader Sean Fielding has visited Mantra Learning at Greengate, Chadderton, to open the state-of-the art facility.

The training provider has a track record stretching back more than 50 years as a logistics specialist and was awarded a Skills Capital Grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority towards this scheme.

Mantra Learning had identified reverse logistics – the process of handling goods which are returned by online shoppers – as a fast-growing sub-sector in need of skilled workers.

More than 200 people a month are now expected to graduate from the centre, ready for good jobs in handling customer returns, putting unused goods back into stock for re-sale and recycling damaged or faulty goods.

The facility is a semi-permanent structure which can be easily expanded and boasts the latest technology so that learners can experience and practice skills in a live working environment. It is also supporting learners across the logistics sector through traineeships and apprenticeships and retraining job-seekers and work returners referred to Mantra Learning’s Job Gym by Jobcentre Plus.

Some retailers report return rates of between 20 and 40 per cent of their internet sales, which translates into a cost of around £20 billion a year. This is continuing to grow as the rate of online shopping and the volume of returned items expand.

Mantra Learning was awarded the Skills Capital Grant from the GMCA via the Local Growth Fund of £387,000 in 2017 and received planning consent from Oldham Council in January, 2018.

Cllr Fielding, who is also the GMCA lead for employment, skills and apprenticeships, said: “It was fantastic to be asked to open this leading edge facility at Mantra Learning and see the opportunities it will offer to learners.

“The GMCA and Oldham Council is proud to be supporting the investment for this facility in what is a fast-growing and priority sector for us.

“Investment in skills like this is vitally important for the city region’s prospects to make it attractive for employers, and to give every resident the chance to get ahead.”

“Logistics now represents around seven per cent of the Greater Manchester business base and it’s growing fast in North Manchester with increasing demand for reverse logistics where skilled people are doing jobs that simply cannot be automated.

“Oldham is an ideal location where logistics can thrive thanks to our excellent transport links with a connected road, rail and freight offer and – through our collaboration on Warehouse to Wheels, a scheme supporting residents to gain HGV qualifications – we’ve seen how Mantra excels in upskilling low-paid staff and helping to promote mobility in the labour market.

“This new venture offers important new vocational and technical learning opportunities, and it’s great to see how Mantra have expanded from their Oldham base to now cover the whole country with their National Logistics Academy.”

Mark Currie, executive director of Mantra Learning, said: “One of the main reasons why Mantra has continued to thrive for 50 years is that we have always been the first to respond when the logistics sector has undergone a seismic shift such as the one we are experiencing today with the phenomenal growth in internet retailing.

“The world of work is changing fast and people need to learn new skills in order to make the transition from sectors in decline like high street retail to the new technological logistics world of online shopping.

“I am delighted that GMCA has recognised the good work we do in supporting the residents and businesses of Greater Manchester and provided us with some financial assistance to build this new centre.”