If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that digital skills are of vital importance.

And now the Department for Education’s National Skills Fund is extending its current programme of Skills Bootcamps across Dorset.

Comprising flexible courses lasting up to 16 weeks’ duration, the eight additional Skills Bootcamps offer adults aged 19 or over the opportunity to build up or retrain in specific digital skills required by employers.

Part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, the Skills Bootcamps are offered free of charge to people who are unemployed, self-employed, returning to work, or to independent learners who are looking to advance their digital skills into higher paid employment in sectors that urgently require those skills.

The #Train4Tomorrow programme is designed to help people enter highly paid growth industries in the region, such as cyber security, data science, software development, digital marketing and IT. The Bootcamps are being run in the South West region by the Heart of the South West LEP and the Digital Skills Partnership and supported in Dorset by Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Rebecca Davies, head of Enterprise, Skills & Industry at Dorset LEP said: “Improving individuals’ skills is one – if not the primary – route of positively improving life opportunities and outcomes and forms a vital part of Dorset LEP’s work. The Skills Bootcamps represent up to £4,000 of free training for anyone considering a career change in areas where digital skills are in high demand, and everyone who completes a Skills Bootcamp will have the opportunity to fast-track to an interview with a local employer.”

All Skills Bootcamps will be completed by March 2022. They will be delivered with the support of four partners including Bluescreen IT, Bournemouth and Poole College, Petroc, and Truro & Penwith College. The bootcamps offer a mix of online and face to face delivery.

Residents who are employed can also take advantage of the Skills Bootcamps, but their employer will need to cover 30 per cent of the cost. More information about eligibility and details of how to register can be found at www.Train4Tomorrow.org.uk.

Employers, who are interested in supporting the Skills Bootcamps, by shaping the content of the programme or by interviewing successful course completers, can also register their interest via this link.