The list of eligible Level 3 qualifications included in the Lifetime Skills Guarantee has been published.

From April 2021, any adult aged 24 and over who wants to achieve their first full Level 3 qualification, which is equivalent to a technical certificate/diploma or two full A levels, will be able to access almost 400 fully-funded courses paid for by the National Skills Fund.

Qualifications will be available in:

• Engineering
• Building and construction 
• Manufacturing technologies 
• Transportation operations and maintenance 
• Business management 
• Public services 
• Accounting and finance 
• Medicine and dentistry 
• Horticulture and forestry 
• Health and social care 
• ICT practitioners 
• ICT for users 
• Mathematics and statistics 
• Science 
• Agriculture 
• Nursing and vocations and subjects allied to medicine 
• Child development and wellbeing 
• Environmental conservation 
• Teaching and lecturing 
• Warehousing and distribution.

Information on accessing the offer will be available in 2021.

Meanwhile the Education Secretary has written to the chair of the Skills and Productivity Board to confirm its priorities for the year ahead. These include:

• Identifying which areas of the economy face the most significant skills mismatches or present growing or changing areas of skills need
• Understanding how the skills system can promote productivity growth in areas of the country that are poorer performing economically.
  

The Skills and Productivity Board was set up to provide the Government with expert advice on how to ensure courses and qualifications on offer to students are aligned to the skills that employers need for the future.