Free courses offered to retrain people for highly-skilled careers

Cornwall Council and Devon County Council have been awarded £1.8m funding from the Department for Education’s National Skills Fund

People looking to retrain into highly-skilled careers are being given the opportunity to sign up to free courses aimed at boosting their job prospects.

Cornwall Council and Devon County Council have been awarded £1.8m from the Department for Education to run a third year of Skills Bootcamps.

The courses are flexible and last up to 16 weeks.

They offer adults the opportunity to retrain into job roles in emerging sectors.

These include the green and construction sectors, as well as healthcare, professional services and creative industries.

The bootcamps - funded by the Department for Education's National Skills Fund - are designed alongside employers to ensure people are developing industry skills that meet current recruitment needs, with learners guaranteed an interview at the end of their training.

They will run from July 2022 until March 2023.

Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council cabinet member for economy, said; "Recruitment difficulties and skills gaps are acute in some of our key sectors and more jobs in the future will require higher level skills.

"This funding gives us the opportunity to ensure people are developing industry skills that meet current recruitment needs now and in the future."

There is a small cost for employers wishing to train their own staff, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises contribute 10% of the course costs, whereas large employers contribute 30% of the costs.

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