Extra £34m to help up to 11,000 people become HGV drivers welcomed by Greater Lincolnshire business organisation

The Department for Education announced the additional £34 million investment in its so-called Skills Bootcamps last Friday.

The move is being made as part of a package of measures to ease driver shortages and support supply chains over the Christmas period and beyond.

The courses are now open for registration, and as up to 500 more HGV driving tests are made available each week by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, it is hoped that the initiative will get more drivers on the road sooner.

The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership – a body which works with businesses and local authorities to develop and grow the area’s economy – has spoken in favour of the spend.

It says HGV drivers in the logistics and haulage sectors are vital to the area, owing to its ports industry, agri-food sector and a vast number of rurally distanced business networks.

Skills manager Clare Hughes said: “I’m pleased to see national funding rules for training relaxed in response to concerns and needs of employers.”

HGV driver bootcamps are free, flexible, intensive courses of up to 16 weeks, designed to train drivers to be road-ready and gain their licence.

Those who successfully complete the HGV courses are guaranteed a job interview with an employer and the first drivers are expected to be on the road from March 2022.

A full list of the bootcamps and their locations can be found at https://tinyurl.com/GovSkillsBootcamp