Workers face a bill of around £40,000 if they want to retrain – a financial penalty that hits mostly younger people and those with lower-level qualifications, a new report has warned.
The Learning and Work Institute (L&W), which conducted the analysis shared exclusively with FE Week, is now calling for the incoming lifelong learning entitlement (LLE) to be expanded to help ease the financial burden on people wanting to switch career.
The government gave the greenlight to the LLE legislation last month, which will provide the equivalent of four years of tuition loans to students on courses between levels four and six when it launches in 2025. But the L&W said the LLE should cover courses at levels two and three as well. Under its plans, funding for those courses would not need to be paid back.
Analysis by the institute found that people switching sectors face an average pay cut of £3,731 (14 per cent) per year.
