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London mayor launches £27m skills programme with green focus
The mayor of London has launched a £27m programme to help upskill the capital’s workforce and boost its economy, including green skills for retrofit.
London mayor launches £27m skills programme with green focus #UKhousingThe mayor of London has launched a £27m programme to help upskill the capital’s workforce and boost its economy, including green skills for retrofit #UKhousingThe scheme will focus on sectors that are also part of the London Growth Plan, including digital, green, retail and professional services.
The London Growth Plan aims to restore productivity growth to an average of 2% a year in the next decade, with the target of making the capital’s economy £107bn larger by 2035.
In the new skills programme, Londoners aged 19 and over will be able to access training via skill bootcamps that last from two weeks up to three months.
Skill providers and employers have until 27 May to apply to get involved.
The new funding, which comes from the Department for Education, is seeing a 25% annual uplift and a 42% increase since the scheme first received funding in 2022, the mayor’s office said.
City Hall covers 90% of training costs for SMEs to upskill their staff and 70% of costs for larger employers.
Previous graduates have progressed in careers such as carpentry, arboriculture, early-years education, pharmacy, logistics, cyber security and retrofit.
Inside Housing has been campaigning to flag and address skills shortages across the sector through its Housing Hires campaign.
London mayor Sadiq Khan hopes to support more than 7,700 new learners with the new funds. In the last wave, 55% of Londoners who completed the training “secured a good work outcome”, including gaining a new role or progressing within their existing organisations.
People who complete the programme are guaranteed a job interview and receive “guidance on professional working environments to help fully prepare them for new roles”.
Mr Khan said: “This additional funding will help even more Londoners to access free accessible training and gain the skills they need to succeed. This is even more important given the high cost of living.
“Our goal is to drive economic growth in every corner of our city, raise living standards and ensure more Londoners can access good high-paid jobs, as we work to deliver the London Growth Plan and continue building a fairer and more prosperous London for all.”
Christina Veldman, a green skills bootcamp graduate who now works as a landscape and environment operative, said: “My big regret was that I never got to work outdoors in nature like I had always dreamed of doing, thinking that I had just left it too late.
“But then I found the mayor’s skills bootcamp at just the right time and it has changed my whole future.”
Mollie Havenhand, early talent manager at Omnicom, which is an employer in the digital skill bootcamp, said her organisation has made 150 hires through the skills bootcamps.
She added: “These candidates have not only proven to be strong employees, making meaningful contributions within their respective agencies, but also significantly enriched our diverse workforce.”
Earlier this year, the Chartered Institute of Building called for the introduction of a built environment GCSE to encourage young people into the sector.
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