GROWING SKILLS GAP DRIVES DEMAND AND INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Demand for consumer finance in the education and training sector is growing at pace, according to retail finance technology provider Deko, which has today reported a 13% year-on-year growth in applications via education providers.

A leader in smart retail finance technology for the past 10 years, Deko has worked within the education and training sector for more than six years to offer customers flexible payment methods to fulfil their training ambitions.

According to new customer insights, in 2018 applications managed by Deko’s innovative retail finance platform were up from 14 per cent from 2017 in the education and training sector. The average customer spend on each application was £2,065.

Further demographic insights into the typical customer in this sector, according to Deko’s data, reveal that males (53%), people who are single (44%) and those aged between 25-34 (33%) make up the biggest share of applicants. There is also clear demand from the 35-44 year age bracket (27%), as people look to expand their learning, and even retrain well beyond school and university years.

Speaking about the increased demand, Kaye Rickards, Sales and Marketing Director from Deko, said “Despite the current boom in the UK jobs market, there is widespread concern of a growing skills gap in business with traditional education settings not currently providing the training and knowledge that is needed in today’s workplaces. This is no surprise when you think that many of the innovations that are transforming the world today did not exist five to 10 years ago.

“Technology is rapidly changing the way we work and as such employees are now turning to additional training and development to ensure that their knowledge remains relevant and up to date in an evolving world.

“It is clear from our data that there is a real appetite for people in the UK to invest in further education, especially amongst the 25-34 age group which make up a third of the applications that we receive.”

“Education and training providers have a key role to play here, by offering customers the flexibility to spread the cost of training and therefore removing one of the significant barriers people face when investing in their personal and professional development.

“The way people think about their finances and attitudes to credit have clearly shifted. Appetite for consumer credit now extends well beyond the retail sector and education and training providers can gain a clear commercial advantage by acknowledging the changing needs of today’s consumers.”