'Returnership' apprenticeships for over 50s and 'midlife MOTs' aim to boost workforce

ITV News Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks reports from Skegness, Lincolnshire

A new drive to boost the UK workforce will see over 50s offered special apprenticeships and "midlife MOTs", Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced in his Spring Budget.

Dubbed "returnerships", the courses will run alongside boot camps and sector-based work academies give older people new skills to return to work.

"They will bring together our existing skills programmes to make them more appealing for older workers, focusing on flexibility and previous experience to reduce training length," Mr Hunt said.

The chancellor told the Commons that people aged over 50 should not be considered older but "experienced".

It is not yet clear exactly how the new apprenticeships will work, but the government says they will focus on flexibility and previous experience to reduce training length.

"They will promote accelerated apprenticeships, Sector-Based Work Academy Programme placements and Skills Bootcamps to the over-50s."

"Midlife MOTs" form the other strand of Mr Hunt's plan to "make it easier for those who wish to work longer to do so".

"We will increase the number of people who get the best possible financial, health and career guidance ahead of retirement by enhancing the DWP's [Department for Work and Pension's] excellent 'midlife MOTs' strategy," he said.

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A midlife MOT is a review for workers in their 40s and 50s that aims to help them take stock of their finances, skills and health, and enable them to better prepare for their retirement and build financial resilience, according to the government.

They've previously been delivered online, in the private sector and through the national network of jobcentres, to over 50s in receipt of Universal Credit.

The scheme will be "expanded and improved" to ensure people get the "best possible financial, health and career guidance well ahead of retirement", the government said, with an aim of reaching 40,000 people per year.