MKC Training Services Ltd blog

MKCT Receives Forces Covenant Gold Award 2023

Test author — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:53:37 GMT

MKC Training are extremely proud to announce that we have received the 2023 Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award.

This award is linked to the Armed Forces Covenant which is a promise by the nation to ensure that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, including Reservists, Cadet volunteers and their families, are treated fairly.

Mike Garrod, Managing Director said:

“MKC Training has supported our armed forces since the company was established in 2009 to deliver training to the Royal Engineers, we are delighted to receive this gold award. We highly value our relationship with the armed forces and its wider community, and are proud to have many veterans and reservists in our business.”

Armed Forces Covenant

MKC Training supports our armed forces community in a number of ways, whether it is as an employer to reservists, veterans, cadet volunteers and/or partners or as a provider ensuring commissioned services understand the needs of this community.

MKC Training recognise the value, ethos and talents of veterans. At present we employ 40 members of staff who have prior military service, each of whom plays an integral part in transferring their skillset to our company providing the standards expected of an organisation that prides itself on the highest performance levels.

In July 2021, we reaccredited for the silver award as part of the Ministry of Defence's Employer Recognition Scheme

To stay up to date with what MKC Training are doing for the Armed Forces, check out our dedicated Armed Forces Covenant page.

Celebrating MKC Training’s Princess Royal Training Award Achievement

Test author — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:53:36 GMT

MKC Training are honoured to receive the prestigious Princess Royal Training Award Standard in 2023 for our successful Kickstart scheme.

Our team attended the ceremony at St. James’s Palace, London, alongside representatives from 52 other esteemed organisations. The grand Picture Gallery set the stage for the event, where Kirstie Donnelly, Chief Executive of City & Guilds, announced the award recipients. Will Mitchell had the honour of collecting the award from HRH The Princess Royal.

Every year we are humbled by the deep commitment to learning and development that organisations from all sectors continue to demonstrate.

Kirstie Donnelly, MBE Chief Executive at City & Guilds.

This esteemed award recognises the success of our Kickstart program and the outstanding achievements of the 14 young individuals welcomed into MKC Training.

Our Kickstart scheme was a huge success. We were able to support young people to develop their skills and experience and helped them to get their foot on the career ladder.

We are proud to have played a role in supporting young people into employment, and we are grateful to the government for funding the Kickstart scheme.

This has improved the diversity across MKC Training, allowed us to build in capability in videography, to deliver on growth and capability projects, as well as enabling succession plans and improving our training delivery to the HM forces (ARMY) Corps of Royal Engineers.

Will Mitchell, Head of Line of Business, MKC Training.

Learn more about the success of the Kickstart scheme at MKC Training.

Rethinking Medical Processes in Contested Environments

Test author — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:53:35 GMT

For the last two decades, our medical systems, training pipelines, and assurance models have been optimised around a set of assumptions that no longer reliably hold: predictable evacuation timelines, uncontested movement, and a largely linear care pathway.

When those assumptions fail, simply inserting a new team or capability into the same process risks treating the symptom rather than the cause. Keith Mills, Defence Medical Lead at MKC Training explains, “What may be required now is a deliberate shift in mindset and paradigm.

Instead of designing medical support around evacuation as the organising principle, we should design processes that assume delay, disruption, and uncertainty, and then train people to operate effectively within that reality. "That means rethinking where decisions are made, how risk is managed, how care is prioritised over time, and how mobility and survivability shape clinical practice.”

From a training perspective, this is less about teaching additional skills and more about changing how clinicians and commanders conceptualise time, movement, and medical effect in contested environments. Processes, not platforms, become the decisive factor.

As a leading provider of specialist training solutions for the defence sector, MKC Training see this as a critical conversation: are we prepared to move beyond legacy constructs and adjust our training models to support a genuinely different way of delivering care forward?

Or are we still anchoring new ideas to old assumptions?

Strategic Reserve 2.0

Test author — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:53:34 GMT

The Ministry of Defence’s decision to extend recall liability up to age 65 has been met with predictable reactions.

Nostalgia, humour, and casual references to Dad’s Army.

While understandable, that framing risks obscuring the more substantive issue: how readiness, re-activation, and assurance are managed in practice.

If recall is approached primarily as a manpower measure, its contribution to capability is likely to be limited. If it is treated as part of a broader capability and readiness strategy, it raises important questions about how experience is re-integrated, how risk is managed, and how confidence and safety are sustained.

From the perspective of MKC Training, the policy itself is less significant than the system behaviours it brings into focus.

Readiness Beyond Headcount

Modern conflict, readiness and resilience don’t hinge on how many people you can mobilise at short notice. In practice, it is more accurately determined by:

Decision quality under pressure
Training systems that actually work end-to-end
Assurance that catches failure before it becomes operational
Leaders and practitioners who’ve seen patterns repeat and know exactly where they break.

That’s where many former service personnel in their 50s and 60s add disproportionate value.

These factors are not generated by numbers alone. They are shaped by how people are prepared, supported, and integrated into existing structures.

Re-activation as a Transition, Not an Event

Re-activation following a long absence is not a single step. It is a transition between systems, assumptions, and professional contexts.

For example, an individual who has spent many years operating within civilian regulatory or compliance frameworks may not require extensive retraining in fundamentals. Instead, they may need:

A focused update on current doctrine and operating assumptions
Clarity on where responsibility and decision authority sit
A defined role aligned to identified areas of weakness or risk

This distinction matters because it affects both confidence and safety. Poorly designed re-activation pathways can introduce friction, uncertainty, and unmanaged risk.

Skills Currency and Professional Confidence

Skills currency is not binary. Individuals returning after 10–20 years are neither fully current nor wholly outdated.

Many will have developed:

Strong governance and assurance instincts
Experience of operating in different organisational cultures
A clearer understanding of how systems succeed and fail

The challenge lies in identifying:

Which skills remain directly transferable
Which assumptions require adjustment
Where confidence needs to be rebuilt, both for the individual and the organisation.

Training that does not explicitly address these distinctions risks undermining confidence rather than restoring it.

Training Assurance and Safety Considerations

A significant proportion of the risk associated with ‘Strategic Reserve 2.0’ may not be with returners themselves, but with the training and assurance systems surrounding them.

Second-order groups are central to this:

Instructors managing compressed timelines
Commanders integrating personnel with mixed experience currency
Families and civilian employers affected by uncertainty
Administrative staff responsible for legal, ethical, and assurance compliance

If reactivation is accelerated without corresponding assurance, safety margins can narrow, professionally and operationally.

Differentiating Contribution

Rank alone is an imperfect indicator of value on return. Experience suggests that:

Former non-commissioned personnel often contribute through standards, mentoring, and reliability
Former commissioned personnel often contribute through governance, assurance, and decision-making

Applying a uniform model to both groups risks inefficiency and disengagement. Differentiated role design, by contrast, supports more effective integration.

From Mobilisation to Re-absorption

The potential value of Strategic Reserve 2.0 lies less in mobilisation and more in talent re-absorption.

That implies:

Role-first design, rather than rank-first allocation
Targeted conversion, rather than full retraining
Outcome-based contribution, rather than time-based measures

Whether this potential is realised will depend largely on how training, assurance, and integration are designed and governed.

The core issue is not recall itself, but how experience is reintroduced safely, credibly, and effectively into the system.

Interested in learning more about our defence training capabilities, or how we can support you with our world-class trades training knowledge and equipment? Contact us here.

MKC Training wins RoSPA President's Award

Test author — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:53:33 GMT

Competing against organisations from across the globe, MKC Training has once again been recognised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for maintaining the highest standards of safety management and performance.

Each year, nearly 2,000 organisations enter the RoSPA Awards, the UK’s longest-running and most respected health and safety industry accolade. Being recognised at this level places MKC Training among the world leaders in health and safety practice.

Peter Cox, Commercial Director, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to receive the RoSPA President’s Award, a milestone that reflects 14 years of consistent excellence in health and safety. This achievement is a testament to the unwavering dedication, professionalism, and care shown by every member of our team at MKC Training. Safety isn’t just a policy for us; it’s part of our culture and who we are as a business."

Julia Small, RoSPA’s Achievements Director, said:

“We congratulate MKC Training on winning this prestigious RoSPA Award and for demonstrating an outstanding, long-term commitment to keeping employees, clients, and partners safe from harm.
Workplace accidents don’t just cause operational or financial challenges; they deeply affect lives. Recognising and celebrating organisations that prioritise safety is essential to creating lasting change.”

Sponsored by the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH), the RoSPA Awards scheme is the longest-running of its kind in the UK, and receives entries from organisations across the globe, making it one of the most sought-after achievement awards for the health and safety industry.

Dee Arp, NEBOSH Chief Quality Officer and the Head Judge of the RoSPA Awards, said:

"NEBOSH is delighted to be the headline sponsor of the RoSPA Awards. Recognising excellence in health and safety is essential to ensure we celebrate achievement, but it is also about reinforcing a culture of care, accountability and continuous improvement. These awards serve as a powerful reminder that employee safety and wellbeing transcends borders and looking after our people, so they can go home safe, healthy and happy every day, also drives sustainable success and resilience."

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who continues to make safety a cornerstone of our success.

Read more information about the RoSPA Awards.

Training Transformation with AR, VR and MR

Test author — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:53:32 GMT

Training Transformation with AR, VR and MR

When we talk about blended learning, what does this really mean? Training methods, channels and platforms are fast-changing. This blog introduces some of the technologies and approaches we are using to transform our training; improving engagement and outcomes for our delegates.

Transforming Training

A range of options available for a ”blended Learning solution” include Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR).

Augmented Reality – what is it?

Augmented Reality (AR) is an enhanced version of reality, created using technology to overlay digital information on an image of something viewed through a device (such as a smartphone camera) It also includes the technology used to create augmented reality. In this case you can point your smart device at an object and additional information may be displayed on your device overlaying the object. Examples of AR use can be found within the Carpenters’ Programme Area workshops at MKC Training.

Virtual Reality – what is it?

Virtual Reality (VR) is the term used to describe a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment which a user can explore and interact with. That person becomes a part of this virtual world, immersed within this environment. Whilst there, they are able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions. Wearing a VR headset, you could be placed in a virtual environment where you are being lifted by an access platform to a height of 20m. Although this is carried out in a safe environment, the experience within the VR environment can be so real that the user may find the simulation unsettling and need to remove the headset.

New VR capability at MKC Training

We are excited to be developing a new capability to build and test where virtual reality can feed into our training delivery. We are scoping the development of a virtual reality product to support the Construction Site Safety Officer course. The aim is to develop different scenarios on a construction site, learning what good and poor site set-ups look like, what a well-managed or poorly-managed resources yard looks like, as well as the essential elements required to manage a site. Through individual or multi-player participation we hope to bring to life the safety decisions required to plan a construction site.

Mixed Reality – What is it?

Mixed Reality (MR) is a blend of physical and virtual worlds that includes both real and computer-generated objects. The two worlds are "mixed" together to create a realistic environment. A user can navigate this environment and interact with both real and virtual objects. Mixed Reality (MR) combines aspects of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). It is sometimes called "enhanced" AR since it is similar to AR technology, but provides more physical interaction.

VR, AR, MR explained. Source: Filmora Wondershare

How does MKC Training identify the appropriate learning method?

Regardless of any digital platform, the first thing MKC Training considers is the needs of the organisation and how digital solutions will best meet their need. We also focus on the needs of the learner before any consideration of technology to ensure knowledge transfer is at its pivotal.

Our Course Designers will work with your Instructional Designer and Subject Matter Expert (SME) to identify the most appropriate method and media to best support the trainees’ learning. The requirement is discussed with the Learning Technologist to confirm it can be achieved whilst balancing time, cost, and benefit. Technology should only be utilised if it adds value to the learning experience, combined with the cost versus time to produce it.

Digital learning has generally shown to be more effective in a blended format, in conjunction with other delivery channels, with peer-to-peer/instructor interaction and curated content being key to successful applications.