The City & Guilds Foundation – part of skills organisation City & Guilds Group – has launched a new London Bursary skills fund of £50,000, aimed at helping those who need it most across the capital get the skills they need, fast.
Set up in response to the serious impact of the pandemic on London’s labour market – with London seeing the largest fall in jobs between September and December 2020, with a decrease of 60,000 jobs – the bursary will remove barriers to vital training for those who want to access training, but are unable to afford it.
Bursary recipients will be able to access City & Guilds / ILM training courses, worth around £2,000 each, across a range of sectors – including construction, digital, health and social care, engineering and manufacturing, among others.
Now open for applications, for UK residents in London over 18 years old experiencing genuine financial need, the bursary is designed to help individuals complete a course and get back into work post-pandemic.
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Almost all (92%) of previous City & Guilds Foundation bursary recipients have found employment within 6 months of completing their course.
In addition, from June 2021 City & Guilds Group will be offering 1,000 free digital credential upgrades for Londoners who complete their ‘Step into Digital Technologies’ course on FutureLearn, to encourage young people, especially, to access careers in the growing digital sector.
Along with Step Into courses for construction and social care, these courses form part of City & Guilds Group’s ‘Skills Bridges’ programme designed to help individuals who work in industries heavily impacted by Covid-19 to reskill and switch careers into growing industries or those facing skills shortages.
Kirstie Donnelly MBE, CEO of City & Guilds Group, commented: “With the capital being one of the hardest hit areas in the UK when it comes to employment, those people whose jobs and livelihoods have been impacted need encouragement, support and opportunity to get back into work – whether that’s in the same job, or a new one.
“That’s why we’ve launched our London Bursary fund, to contribute to a London levelling up agenda and help those most in need overcome the barriers to accessing new skills and jobs.”
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