The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Options open to finance education and training
Peter Ranscombe takes a look at 10 funding options available for individuals and businesses that want to use training and education to deal with the effec ts of the coronavirus restrictions.
INDIVIDUALS NATIONAL TRANSITION TRAINING FUND
Scottish Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop launched the Scottish Government’s flagship £25 million national transition training fund earlier this month to help “anyone aged 25 or over who is unemployed, economically inactive, or at risk of unemployment due to the impact of Covid-19”.
The fund is designed to help 10,000 people gain the skills they need to move into growing sectors of the economy.
Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the Scottish Government’s training agency, will administer the £11m initial phase of the fund, which aims to help 6,000 by the end of March.
Work coaches from the UK Government’s Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (Pace) advisers from SDS will provide advice and support to applicants.
myworldofwork. co. uk/ national-transitiontraining-fund
GET CASH FOR TRAINING
SDS’s individual training account (ITA) can pay up to £200 towards the cost of a training course.
Applications for the money – which doesn’t have to be repaid – will close at the end of the month, with SDS accepting up to 14,000 applications.
The cash is available to Scottish residents aged 16 or over who are earning less than £22,000 a year, are unemployed, or who aren’t in education or involved in any other SDS-funded programme.
The ITA replaced the earlier individual learning account introduced in 2004 by the then Scottish Executive.
myworldofwork. co. uk/ learn- and- train/ sds- individual- trainingaccounts-ita
LEARN DIGITAL SKILLS
Unemployed people and people on low incomes can apply for grants of between £1,000 and £8,000 to cover the cost of training in software development and cyber security. The cash comes from the Scottish Government’s Digital Start Fund, which is managed by SDS. Funding may also be available to cover travel and childcare costs. Graduates who have completed their university courses within the past 12 months aren’t eligible to apply. The grants cover training courses provided by organisations including CodeClan, ScotlandIS, and The Open University.
digitalworld.net/study/ digital-start-fund
GRANTS FOR STUDENT PARENTS AND CARERS
Single, separated, divorced, or widowed higher education students bringing up at least one child can apply for a lone parents’ grant of up to £1,305 a year, which is means-tested. Students who are eligible for the lone parents’ grant may also be eligible for a lone parents’ childcare grant, up to a maximum £1,215 a year.
There is also the higher education discretionary childcare fund, open to all student parents and is provided by individual universities and colleges. Parents in further education can apply to the further education childcare fund, which is administered by individual colleges – the fund prioritises loan parents, part-time students, and mature students.
The Student Awards Agency Scotland can also give income-assessed dependants’ grants to people caring for other adults, up to £2,640 a year.
s a a s . g o v. u k / g u i d e s / support-for-studentcarers
SUPPORT FOR CARELEAVERS
Care-experienced students’ bursaries are available for people up to the age of 26 who are studying for higher national certificates or diplomas, or for degrees.
The bursaries are open to people who have been looked after by a local council in the UK before they turned 18.
Up to £8,100 a year can be awarded to support studies and training, along with vacation grants to pay summer holiday accommodation.
A bursary for full-time further education courses is also available, which offers £202.50 a week.
myworldofwork. co. uk/ learn- and- train/ funding
BUSINESSES KICKSTART SCHEME
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s flagship £2 billion kickstart scheme provides funding to business so they can create job placements for 16 to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment.
The funding covers: the national minimum wage – or national living wage depending on the age of the participant – for 25 hours’ work each week for a total of six months; employers’ national insurance contributions; and employers’ automatic enrolment contributions.
Further funding is available for training and support so that young people on the scheme can get a job.
g o v. u k / g o v e r n m e n t / collections/kickstartscheme
TEACH YOUR STAFF DIGITAL SKILLS
Small businesses can borrow between £5,000 and £100,000 from DSL Business Finance to train members of staff in digital skills through the Scottish Government’s digital development loan, which is managed by Lanarkshire Enterprise Services and covers the whole of Scotland.
The loans are interestfree and can be repaid over up to five years, with no early repayment fees.
The loans are available to limited companies, sole traders, and charities that have been trading for a minimum of six months, but not to companies that are involved in betting or gambling. digitaldevelopment loan.org
CREATE A COLLEGE COURSE
Employers Scotland that pay the UK apprenticeship levy can get up to £15,000 from the flexible workforce development fund to create tailored training programmes with their local further education college. Cash is distributed among Scotland’s colleges by the Scottish Funding Council.
Firms that have used the fund include Aberlourbased shortbread maker Walkers, which worked with Moray College in Elgin to give 12 members of staff training across a range of skills.
sfc.ac.uk/funding/ college- funding/flexibleworkforce- development/ flexible-workforcedevelopment-fund.aspx in
TAKE ON A GRADUATE
Highlands Islands Enterprise’s (HIE’s) account-managed companies can get funding to take on a graduate for between three months and a year through the ScotGrad programme to carry out a specific project within their business. The project on which
& they work should have outcomes that can be measured and shouldn’t include day-to-day work.
Graduates with higher national certificates or diplomas or with undergraduate or postgraduate degrees can take part in the programme. ScotGrad also offers student placements for up to 12 weeks over the summer.
h i e . c o . u k /s u p p o r t / browse-all-supportservices/scotgrad/
BOOST YOUR USE OF TECHNOLOGY
Small businesses within The Highland Council area can host a graduate for up to 12 months through the technology placement programme, designed to help boost digital skills within the host companies. Financial support is available to pay for up to 50% of the graduate’s salary through the £315m Inverness & Highland City-Region Deal, with the programme delivered by the Northern Innovation Hub initiative. Student placements lasting for up to 12 weeks can also be funded through the scheme.
h i e . c o . u k /s u p p o r t / browse-all-supportservices/technologyplacements/