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Discover our Adult Education Budget

Adult Education Budget (AEB) 19+ Funding Offer

City & Guilds offers a wide range of qualifications that are funded by the Adult Education Budget (AEB). These can be found in the City & Guilds AEB Qualification Catalogue.

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AEB is available to training providers that have a contract with the Government via the ESFA to deliver qualifications to learners aged 19+. AEB can support individual learners to upskill and improve their career and life chances. It can also help employers to meet the current and future skills need of their business, which can lead to increased productivity, motivation and retention of staff.

AEB has two main funding streams;

  1. Local Flexibility – this is a broad curriculum offer available from Entry Level to Level 2, its intention is to support entry to, or to assist learners in improving their career opportunities within the employment market. The Government expects providers to deliver courses and programmes that respond to local skills priorities.
  2. Legal Entitlement – this is the statutory entitlement for any learner aged 19-23 to be fully funded to gain a first qualification at Level 2 or Level 3.

City & Guilds offers a wide range of Awards, Certificates and Diplomas from Entry Level, to Level 3 that are funded by the AEB. We provide a catalogue of our AEB funded qualifications divided into subject areas so you can easily search for programmes that suit your curriculum needs.

Download our funded courses directory

AEB supports employees and individuals aged 19+ to access courses and gain qualifications that improve their productivity, skills and career opportunities. The Government may fully fund a qualification depending on your employees’ previous level of qualification and how much they earn.

Local training providers have access to AEB and can help you find out if your employees are eligible for funding and what courses or qualifications would most suit the skills needs of your business.

We provide a catalogue of our AEB funded qualifications divided into subject areas, so you can easily search for courses that suit the skills needs of your industry.

Download our funded courses directory

The Government funding for this age group is more complicated and depends on whether you are employed, unemployed and also what other qualifications you already have and what level they are.

In general, if you are unemployed or earn less than £15,736 per year, then you can be fully funded for qualifications up to Level 2.

If you don’t have a full Level 3 qualification already and are aged 19-24, then you may be able to access a fully funded qualification to gain one, this is called Legal Entitlement.

Download our funded courses directory

AEB funds qualifications and programmes for learners aged 19+.

Employers and learners can access AEB funding via their local training provider or FE College.

AEB is an excellent resource for employers who need to improve the skills of their workforce to meet the future challenges of automation and skills shortages. It can support staff to gain new skills, improve their current level of knowledge in an occupation, or get them ready for an apprenticeship.

AEB can also support individual learners to gain new skills to support their career development, a career change, or to improve progression opportunities in their current job role.

Below are some examples of how the AEB can help individuals to progress and employers transform their business. We have included a table at the bottom of this page that shows detailed information about learner eligibility for full or partial funding.

AEB can:

  • Fund anyone aged 19-23 to get a full Level 2 or Level 3 qualification, if they don’t already have one. If you are aged 24 or over, you may need to contribute to some costs.
  • Fully fund low waged learners aged 24+ to get a first full Level 2 or Level 3 qualification.
  • Fully fund anyone unemployed for any qualification or course up to Level 2.
  • Fully fund any low waged individual, for whom English is not their first language, to improve their language skills and knowledge up to Level 2.
  • Fully fund English and maths, up to and including Level 2, for individuals aged 19 and over, who have not previously achieved a GCSE grade A* - C or grade 4, or higher.
  • Low wage learners – for 2018, the government has introduced a pilot to allow for more flexible use of AEB to support employed learners who are on a low wage. The threshold is an annual wage of £15,736.50 or lower.

Traineeships:

AEB funds traineeships for unemployed learners aged 19 to 24 years. AEB can also fund additional units, awards and certificates from City & Guilds, as part of the flexible element of a traineeship to support the trainee with occupationally specific knowledge and skills.

Contact us

To learn more about the Adult Education Budget or about what City & Guilds qualifications can do for you or your business.

Fill out form

directsales@cityandguilds.com

0192 420 6709