Both the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) have called on the government for significant post-COVID-19 skills package. The AELP has asked the government to set aside £8.6 billion for a one-off skills package to boost the economy, this would include subsidising wages for half a million young apprentices to protect them from redundancy and on tripling the existing annual adult education budget to £4.5 billion. More on their proposals can be read here. The AoC has published ‘Rebuild: a skills led recovery plan’, which asks the government to invest an extra £3.6 billion to upskill 764,000 people most at risk post-COVID-19. This would include a college-based national tutoring scheme, re-engagement and catch-up programme and a pre/re-employment programme to upskill and reskill workers as well as employer cash incentives to take on apprentices. More information can be read here.
