More than £1million has been set aside by Preston City Council to help support Prestonians into employment and give them stronger digital skills.

Funded through the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund the city council has launched a call-out for organisations to help delivery training for people in employability and skills.

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Leader of Preston City Council, councillor Matthew Brown, said: “A key part of our local economic agenda is supporting local people to gain high quality skills and training. It is something I am passionate about – whether that be people getting their first job, returning to the world of work or gaining new high-tech skills to enable them to seize some of the exciting opportunities coming down the line.

“This programme aligns closely with our Community Wealth Building principles encouraging recruitment from parts of Preston with lower incomes into secure, better paid employment within our anchor institutions. These new programmes go a long way to help us deliver further economic inclusion and we look forward to working with local partner organisations to provide this tailored support across all communities.”

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There are nine areas where people and organisations are invited to bid for the funding pots to delivery training:

• E33 Support for economically inactive residents to access employment and training – specifically support for young people.
• E33 Support for economically inactive residents to access employment and training – specifically for adults.
• E34 Courses including basic, life and career skills – Community mental wellbeing project
• E34 Courses including basic, life and career skills – Community digital literacy project
• E34 Courses including basic, life and career skills – Community ESOL project
• E37 Tailored support to help people in employment – Digital skills for people in employment
• E37 Tailored support to help people in employment – Bespoke training to upskill people in employment
• E38 Local areas to fund local skills needs – Local skills fund
• E39 Green skills courses to support transition to net-zero- Green skills fund

Training programmes are expected to start in April 2024 and run to end of March 2025.

Deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 15 December and more information can be found on the city council website.

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