Prime Minister Boris Johnson has laid out plans to provide “practical skills” to anyone who needs them at any stage in their lives, if they have lost their job to coronavirus. Mr Johnson said the UK is suffering from a shortage of skilled builders, mechanics, engineers and IT experts. Mr Johnson said the coronavirus pandemic had exposed the “shortcomings” of the UK’s educational system and plans to provide people with free college courses in a bid to better themselves.
Speaking from Exeter College in Devon, Mr Johnson said: “We’re not giving anywhere near the right amount of support of young people who don’t want to go to university.
“The result is – business isn’t happy, the economy is under-productive and many working adults are stuck in jobs without much future.
“So it’s time for change – radical change. We will be expanding apprenticeships.
“And we’re going to change funding model so it’s just as easy to get student loan for a Further Education course than it is to do a three-year degree at a University.”
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Mr Johnson is promising a £2.5billion Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which he says will give adults without an A-Level or equivalent qualification the chance to take a free vocational college course.
Announcing the new Skills Guarantee: “As the chancellor has said, we cannot, alas, save every job.
“What we can do is give people the skills to find and create new and better jobs.
“So my message today is that at every stage of your life, this Government will help you get the skills you need.”
Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said: “What the Government proposes is simply a mix of reheated old policies and funding that won’t be available until April.
“By then many workers could have been out of work for nearly a year, and the Tories still think that they will need to take out loans to get the training they will need to get back in work.”
The City & Guilds Group, the leading training provider, welcomed the announcement as a “step in the right direction”.
However, Chief Executive Kirstie Donnelly said: “These measures still seem narrow in their scope and don’t contain the creative thinking needed to address vast skills and jobs challenges lie ahead.
“If only those without an A-Level (or equivalent) qualifications are eligible for this training, it completely overlooks huge swathes of the population who have been displaced from their industries this year and will need to completely retrain and change their skillets now.”
Skills Minister Gillian Keegan confirmed there would be no funding in April, which means courses would not start until the following September.
Downing Street has said funding will be limited to courses that are “shown to be valued by employers”, but has yet to confirm what they will be.
As it stands, the Government pays for the first A-Level equivalent qualification at colleges up to the age of 23.
From April, this will be extended to all ages for courses deemed to be valued by employers, with loans also being made more flexible, according to the Government.
