Mayor offers Londoners free training to secure jobs

Unemployed and low paid Londoners will be given the opportunity to gain free qualifications, after the Mayor of London announced a £11m funding package to support people into jobs and help address skills shortages in sectors key to London’s growth and recovery.

The training will allow Londoners to retrain in a range of industries including hospitality, digital, health and the green economy.

Londoners who are unemployed or in low paid work are eligible for the scheme, regardless of prior qualifications, and training opportunities will be available at local colleges and adult education providers across the city.

£5m of the funding will deliver the Mayor’s Academies Programme, of which £3m will support new Academy Hubs and will bring skill providers and other partners together to help tackle skills gaps.

£6m of London’s Adult Education Budget has also been made available to providers working within an Academy Hub to provide bespoke support that will help these newly skilled people into work.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘This funding will provide crucial support to many Londoners whose jobs were most affected by the pandemic and will help hundreds of people get back into work by offering them a chance to learn new skills or hone their existing ones for free, in sectors that are vitally important to the growth and recovery of London.

‘The hospitality sector was one of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic. As the Government’s furlough scheme comes to an end, many workers may unfortunately find themselves out of a job that they love in a vibrant and buzzing industry.

‘By working closely with adult education providers and partners, we can help support people who are in need of good, sustainable work and industries that are crying out for passionate and newly skilled Londoners.’

In related news, a new partnership has been announced between London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and nine housing associations to work with communities to identify and put in place projects to drive down violence, delivering targeted support for young people.

Photo by Christin Hume