Up to 10.9 million people plan to retrain for new jobs

New research⁽¹⁾ from finance specialists Pay4Later reveals that over the next three years, 23% of the adult population - some 10.9 million people - plan to retrain so they can start a new job.

However, retraining and finding a new job does not come without a cost – the research shows that on average they will spend £8,500 doing this. Just 14% of those who are planning to retrain say it won’t cost them anything.

Of those people planning to retrain, just over one in five (22%) said that they wanted to work in healthcare, and this was followed by education(18%) and financial services (12%).  

Pay4Later’s education and training finance platform enables employers, education and training organisations to offer funding to students, professionals and parents to finance private education and career development courses.

Scott Law, CEO of Pay4Later said: “There are so many job opportunities open to people today, but often to realise their dreams they have to train and pass professional qualifications, which can come with a financial cost.  Our platform of  lenders enables organisations to offer financial support to their students or employees.”

Workers in London are the most likely to retrain over the next three years – around 38% of adults in the capital say they are looking to learn new skills. However working adults in Wales are the least likely to retrain with just 16% saying they will do so over the next three years.

The peak age group for retraining or starting new courses is 18 to 24-year-olds – around 48% say they will retrain to start a new job in a new industry. However 39% of 35 to 44-year-olds are also considering retraining by 2018.

¹Online survey conducted by Consumer Intelligence of 1,033 adults aged 18+ between 10^th and 11^th January 2015. UK adult population aged 18+ is 47.358 million