AN industrial cleaning firm, which won support on television’s Dragon’s Den, is offering training to people made redundant in the recession.

UK Commercial Cleaning Services (UKCC), which founder Tony Earnshaw grew from a window cleaning round to a £1.5m turnover business, has offered ten work placements for people between the ages of 18 and 65.

Washington-based UKCC, which Mr Earnshaw established with £300 five years ago, when he was 19, has teamed up with training provider ESG Sencia to provide participants with skills in window cleaning, basic commercial cleaning and customer relations, over a 13-week period.

The aim of the training programme, linked to the New Deal scheme, is to give people a boost in their confidence and allow them to add the experience to their CV.

Trainees are based at the company’s Washington hub for four out of five working days and use the fifth day to search for jobs.

Mr Earnshaw, who received investment from North-Eastbased entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne in the last series of Dragons’ Den, decided to offer the training after seeing the devastating effects that the recession is having on workers in the region.

He said: “It is devastating that people are struggling to find work. We hope to show skills can be transferable and it’s not difficult to take the bold step of applying for jobs in a different industry.

“We hope to continue to offer these placements and that the training helps towards gaining employment.”