Ahead of the Autumn Statement this week, it has been revealed that Chancellor Rishi Sunak will be bolstering skills boot camps by putting £550 million forward.
Plans for the Autumn Statement show that millions will be spent reskilling both adults and those in post-16 education.
£550 million will go towards the National Skills Fund – specifically aiming to quadruple the number of places on skills boot camps in areas including artificial intelligence, cyber security and nuclear.
For those aged 16 to 19, over a billion pounds (£1.6 billion) will be used to provide extra classroom hours for up to 100,000 students studying for T-levels – technical-based qualifications.
Furthermore, £170 million will go towards funding apprenticeships, reaching a £2.7 billion investment by 2024/2025.
The Treasury also announced their intention to create around 24,000 traineeships.
The Government additionally outlined plans to support overseas recruitment in the UK’s technology and science sectors by establishing “talent networks”, namely in locations including the Bay Area of San Francisco, Boston and Bengaluru in India.
By 2023, this programme is set to expand to six countries and will target universities, research institutions and innovation hubs to attract the best foreign talent to the UK’s science and tech sectors.
Speaking about this funding, Chancellor Sunak stated:
Our future economic success depends not just on the education we give to our children but the lifelong learning we offer to adults.
This £3 billion skills revolution builds on our plan for jobs and will spread opportunity across the UK by transforming post-16 education, giving people the skills they need to earn more and get on in life.
This builds upon the Government’s previous plans to upskill UK students and employees including pledging £126 million in the Spring Budget towards traineeships and establishing the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, helping to fund technical courses for adults without A-Levels.
Speaking of former developments put in place by the Government earlier this year to bolster skills in the UK, former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson stated:
As we build back better and rebuild our economy, it is vital we level up more opportunities for people across the country and help more people progress in work.
Monica Sharma is an English Literature graduate from the University of Warwick. As Editor for HRreview, her particular interests in HR include issues concerning diversity, employment law and wellbeing in the workplace. Alongside this, she has written for student publications in both England and Canada. Monica has also presented her academic work concerning the relationship between legal systems, sexual harassment and racism at a university conference at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
