The Chancellor John Healey has announced a package of support to help people into work, education and training, while building the workforce Britain needs.

This includes £15 million a year of funding to restore the Union Learning Fund in England, which was cut in 2021 by the previous Conservative government.

This will help working people gain new skills, progress at work and adapt as technology, including AI, changes the workplace.

The fund previously generated 180,000 learning opportunities every year and will draw on trade unions’ workplace relationships to help people access training through their employers and existing skills programmes.

£100 million of additional funding will also go to all 14 existing Mayoral Strategic Authorities with directly elected mayors, so they can help provide local apprenticeship services across England from Spring 2027 across two years.

Led by mayors, and driven by the skills and needs of local labour markets, this will deliver thousands more youth apprenticeships.