Funding Information: Career Development Loans

What is a Career Development Loan?

A Career Development Loan is a bank loan designed to help you pay for work-related learning. You don’t have to start paying your loan back until at least one month after you stop training. You must be aged 18 or over to apply for a Career Development Loan.

You can use it to fund a variety of vocational (work-related) courses with a wide range of organisations, so you are able to choose the course that best suits your needs. You can take out a Career Development Loan whether you are employed, self-employed or unemployed.

You can borrow anything between £300 and £8,000 to help you fund up to two years of learning (or up to three years if the course includes one year of relevant practical work experience)

The Learning Skills Council pays the interest on your loan while you're learning and for up to one month after you've stopped training.

You then repay the loan to the bank over an agreed period at a fixed rate of interest.

Remember that a Career Development Loan is a personal loan between you and the bank, and you are responsible for repaying it to the bank. Before taking out a loan, check how much your monthly repayments will be, and that you feel confident that you will be able to make them.