City Hall skills bootcamps to receive £27m funding boost
City Hall is set to receive a funding boost of £27m for a skills bootcamp programme for Londoners, Sir Sadiq Khan has announced.
The mayor of London has welcomed the funding from the Department for Education (DfE) which represents a 25 per cent annual uplift for the programme of flexible courses, across some 7,700 trainees, aimed at supporting workers and providing skills training to employers.
It’s also a 42 per cent increase since the DfE first allocated the programme funding in 2022.
It comes as the London Growth Plan aims to restore productivity growth to an average of two per cent a year in the next decade, making the capital’s economy £107bn larger by 2035.
The bootcamps will focus on 11 sectors key to City Hall’s new London Growth Plan, including green, digital and creative industries, as well as construction, retail, hospitality, health, and professional services, in a bid to upskill the capital’s workers and turbocharge productivity.
Providers and employers can apply to be involved until May 27, while the courses, which range from two weeks to three months, are open to Londoners aged 19 and above, with graduates going on to roles in carpentry, early years, pharmacy, logistics, and cyber security.
City Hall covers 90 per cent of training costs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 70 per cent for larger employers, with participating firms and organisations including Tesco, Transport for London (TfL) and Hackney Council.
Khan said: “Skills bootcamps will play an important role in helping fast-track Londoners into good jobs in sectors that are key to London’s long-term economic success.
“This additional funding will help even more Londoners access free accessible training and gain the skills they need to succeed – even more important given the high cost of living.”
He added: “Our goal is to drive economic growth in every corner of our city, raise living standards and ensure more Londoners can access good high-paid jobs.”
Across previous waves of trainees, most graduates see a positive outcome within six months, whether a new living wage paying role or progression in a current job. Graduates are also guaranteed a job interview, with guidance on professional working environments.
City Hall said courses are structured flexibly, including to suit those returning to or in work, and now include Level 2 qualifications (equivalent to a GCSE grade 4/C) for the first time.
Digital skills graduate Monica Carta, who is now a business development and marketing operations specialist, said the training gave her “the skills and confidence I needed”.
While Mollie Havenhand, early talent manager at Omnicom, said the firm had hired 150 people via the skills bootcamps who had all proved to be “strong employees”.
Emma Nye, science technology platform lead at the Francis Crick Institute, said: “The bootcamps have brought a genuinely innovative approach to professional development.
“The blend of expert tutoring, dynamic content and personalised coaching has given our colleagues a meaningful and engaging learning experience far beyond traditional training.
“The focus on practical, business-relevant sustainability skills means participants make an immediate impact in their roles.”