BLACKBURN College has backed a proposal unveiled by the Association of Colleges for the government to focus on reskilling people who have lost work as a result of the pandemic.

The proposal calls for guaranteed education or training for every young person under 18 as well as a package of workplace-based training programmes to get them into work and support for adults to retrain.

They believe local colleges like Blackburn College can be ideal centres for this.

Chief executive David Hughes said: “COVID-19 and its impact on the economy is like nothing we’ve seen before, and our response has to match that.

He added: “Every community in the UK has a thriving college that works with hundreds of local employers to develop their workforce and anticipate their future needs.

“That makes colleges perfectly placed to offer education and training in what business needs and to ensure a strong pipeline of nurses and care workers, construction workers, engineers and designers.”