Learner Accounts

The new Learner Accounts for England were announced in the 2006 FE White Paper: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances. These are seen as another attempt at the flawed Individual Learning Accounts (ILA), which were suspended in December 2001.

EEF has always supported the principle of Learner Accounts but we have concerns in terms of the bureaucracy of administration and delivery. However, we are pleased to see that Level 3 activity is a particular focus of a proposed pilot, as this is an area of significant shortage for the engineering and manufacturing sector.

EEF supports the development of Learner Accounts as a way of helping to pay for learning which can be done at a time, place, pace and in a way to suit the individual.

We will engage with DfES to ensure the relevance and usefulness of Learner Accounts to employers wishing to upskill and reskill the existing workforce. We will work to ensure that engineering and manufacturing companies are kept informed of progress, and promote the initiative as appropriate after introduction.