Adults in England will have access to a "flexible loan entitlement" for four years of post-18 study, the prime minister has announced. 

In a speech at Exeter College, Boris Johnson said the country faced skills shortages in a number of areas post-Covid and the post-18 education sector needed reform.

"Our economy has been shaken by Covid," said the prime minister, "and in the hand-to-mouth scrabblings of the pandemic, the shortcomings of our labour market and our education system have been painfully apparent."

Background: Boris Johnson to announce 'Lifetime Skills Guarantee'

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Mr Johnson said: "At this moment, when we need them so much, there is a shortage of UK-trained lab technicians, just as there is a shortage of so many crucial skills."

He added that this included construction workers and engineers, and the post-18 system was not currently working in a way that endowed people with the right skills. 

A new Lifetime Skills Guarantee, allowing adults without A level or equivalent qualification to do a college course for free, would allow people to train and retrain at any stage in their life, he said. This would mean the country could not only come through the current crisis but also "come back stronger and build back better".

The 'bogus' distinction between HE and FE

'We have to end the pointless, nonsensical gulf' between technical and more academic education, said Mr Johnson. "Now is the time to end this bogus distinction between HE and FE," he added.

His announcements today also include not only pledges to improve the flexibility of apprenticeship funding to better support small businesses, but also changes to the funding and support model.

"We will move to a system where every student will have access to a flexible loan entitlement for four years of post-18 study," Mr Johnson added, explaining that this would bring colleges and universities closer together, open up "a new vista of choice" and make it easier for older people to borrow to do courses locally and study part-time. 

The prime minister said this would mean it would be "just as easy" to access loans for a degree as it was for a technical course. "We will give FE colleges access to the main student finance system so they are better able to compete with universities," he stressed.  

However, this would not be the case for all FE courses, he said, but for targeted courses soon to be announced. 

"We need this nibleness now because Covid has massively accelerated changes that were already happening in the UK economy. [...] We have been hamstrung as a country by our antiquated planning system and our failures in technical education, and this government is putting that right," Mr Johnson concluded. 

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Further education is in dire need of funding, but that is because Conservative and coalition governments of the last 10 years have decimated it. It is remarkable that the prime minister has the audacity to lament a lack of funding for colleges and to criticise record student debt levels when they are the direct result of decisions taken by his party. Today’s plans will not undo a decade of cuts."

She welcomed the recognition of the role that colleges will have to play if the country is to come back stronger and build back better. "But who is going to deliver it?" she asked. "We have 24,000 fewer lecturers than a decade ago, and teaching in further education is not as attractive following a 30 per cent real-terms pay cut over the last decade. Colleges say they are already struggling to attract and retain staff to meet current demand.

Colleges 'at the heart of economic recovery'

"These rehashed funding plans will simply not be enough to enable further education to lead our recovery. We need to see the funding to match the ambition."

Professor Ewart Keep, commissioner for the Independent Commission on the College of the Future, said for too long colleges had been underutilised in meeting the challenges of the economy and society. "It is welcome that today the prime minister is recognising them as institutions at the heart of recovery in communities across England.

 "Today’s announcement for skills in England signals an important refocus on lifetime learning and accessible education. This will be key to recovery, boosting productivity and transforming people’s life chances at a time of great uncertainty. The new entitlement to a fully-funded Level 3 qualification and more flexibility in funding for FE and HE could help to unlock the skills of the nation. This commitment has to be reinforced by good quality advice and flexible financial support, something the commission has been giving a great deal of thought to."

Kirstie Donnelly, chief executive at City and Guilds Group, said: “It’s pleasing to see the prime minister take on board some of our recent recommendations to help reskill adults, and we broadly welcome the government’s commitment to offering adults without A levels the opportunity to access fully funded courses. This is certainly a step in the right direction. However, these measures still seem narrow in their scope and don’t contain the creative thinking needed to address vast skills and jobs challenges that lie ahead.

“How is the provision going to be flexible enough for people to fit learning around their lives and responsibilities – whether that’s childcare, caring for a relative or a part-time job? And, while the intention is that adults learn skills valued for employers, will the training courses on offer match up with the demand in the local area? A skills and training offer fit for today must include the option of digital learning with the focus being on the skills acquired rather than a qualification.

“Meanwhile, if only those without an A-level (or equivalent) qualification are eligible for this training, it completely overlooks huge swathes of the population who have been displaced from their industries this year and will need to completely retrain and change their skillsets now. And, while this will help social mobility, it can’t be a true lifelong skills solution if you’re only eligible once."

Professor Julia Buckingham, president of Universities UK, said: “We have long campaigned for changes to student funding to better support flexible, part-time and adult learning. Today's announcement is an initial step in the right direction. There is a strong economic imperative to improve flexible learning, and we are pleased that the government has recognised the role that universities can play in addressing skills shortages and upskilling existing employees.

“There has been a marked decline in adult learning in recent years, and as the nation looks to recover and rebuild from the impact of Covid-19, now more than ever we need fresh thinking and policy change to help people of all ages and backgrounds to reskill and retrain.

“Many universities are ready to scale up alternatives to the traditional three-year degree, and give more people chances to study elements of a course in a ‘bitesize’ learning model. This would allow people to develop skills in areas such as digital, entrepreneurship, business and public sector management, which will all be likely to benefit the UK’s recovery and boost local economies. It would also help those out of work in certain sectors – such as construction, engineering and aviation – which have been hit hard by the pandemic.”