Government announces retraining support

Adults without an A-Level or equivalent qualification will be able to access free college courses, the Government has announced.

The offer for courses deemed to build “skills that are highly in demand” will be available from April in England and will be paid for through the £2.5 billion National Skills Fund announced in March by the Chancellor.

It is part of a range of measures designed to boost vocational training. They include an increase in funding for SMEs to take on apprentices and greater flexibility in how their training is structured as well as digital skills boot camps and boot camps for construction and engineering.

The Government says it will also make higher education loans more flexible, for instance, so students can study part time and space out their study across their lifetimes. The aim is to encourage shorter-term study and allow students to transfer credits between colleges and universities. More details will be set out in a further education white paper later this year.

The Government is also extending its free online Skills Toolkit, launched earlier in the year, to include 62 additional courses.