PEOPLE across Cumbria will get the chance to retrain and find new, well-paid jobs as part of the Government’s new Lifetime Skills Guarantee.

The plans, unveiled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a speech today, will provide adults in England without an A-Level or equivalent qualifications the opportunity to take up a free, fully-funded college course.

Alongside this, the Government is also making higher education loans more flexible, allowing people to space out their study across their lifetimes and take more high-quality vocational courses.

Dr Neil Hudson, the Conservative MP for Penrith and The Border, said he was really pleased the scheme has been created to help in the plan to Build Back Better across the country.

“I really welcome this announcement by the Prime Minister, developing a long-term plan to ensure that, as the nature of work changes, people have the skills to find and create new and better jobs," Dr Hudson said.

"It will also help support the fusion of educational pathways for people in both Further and Higher Education.

"I really hope that in the next year Newton Rigg College, which we are working hard to save, will play a big part in this plan to help upskill across Cumbria.”

As well as offering college courses from April, the Lifetime Skills Guarantee will make higher education loans more flexible, allowing young people to choose the length and type of course that is right for them.

In his speech on the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, the Prime Minister said he wants to give people the skills to find and create new and better jobs, adding that the government will help them get the skills they need, transforming the foundations of the skills system so everyone has the chance to train and retrain.