Further education: £11.4 million flexible learning fund

Funding for learning providers, employers and other organisations to develop flexible and accessible methods of teaching adults.

The £11.4 million fund supports projects to encourage more people to take part in new training or courses that will help them progress in current employment or secure a new job.

‘Flexible learning fund: successful applicants’ lists the 31 projects and their providers.

‘Flexible learning fund: specification for submitting proposals’ explains the requirements and assessment criteria for project proposals.

At the Spring 2017 Budget, the Government committed to exploring ambitious new approaches to encouraging lifelong learning. £40M was allocated at the Spring 2017 Budget for pilots aimed at helping adults progress in employment or enter new occupations through re-skilling or up-skilling. The pilots provide important evidence about what works, and what does not, in engaging adults about the opportunities and benefits of learning.

The Flexible Learning Fund has been launched as part of this pilot programme. The Fund provides grant support to projects that develop methods of delivering learning that are flexible and easy to access for adults who are in work, or returning to work, with either low or intermediate level skills.

Projects must include a period of design and development of the specific delivery method, followed by a delivery phase during which the method is tested with real learners. Projects must centre on the delivery of basic skills, or on intermediate or higher level technical learning. 

Documents

Flexible learning fund: specification for project proposals

Ref: DFE-20014-2017PDF, 222KB, 22 pages

Details

Published 31 October 2017 
Last updated 26 October 2018 + show all updates

1. 26 October 2018 Removed Just IT from the list of successful applicants.
2. 8 August 2018 Added the total amount of funding available and the list of projects and their providers. Removed application guidance and forms.
3. 31 October 2017 First published.