South Yorkshire Adult Skills Fund

South Yorkshire Adult Skills Fund

Supports adults in South Yorkshire with free employability and skills training through funded local providers.

The South Yorkshire Adult Skills Fund (ASF) is a devolved skills and employability funding programme administered by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), operating under a delegation of the Department for Education's (DfE) national Adult Skills Fund. The programme delivers free training and employability provision to South Yorkshire residents aged 19 or over, covering both individuals not in employment, education, or training (NEET) and employed residents seeking career progression, apprenticeships, or upskilling in new sectors. All learning is completely free of charge to individual participants.

Funding flows from SYMCA via contract to a network of approved independent training providers (ITPs), further education colleges, local authority adult learning services, and voluntary/community organisations — not directly to individual learners or companies. For the 2025/26 contract year, 25 or more providers are approved, covering manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and transport, construction, retail, digital skills, cybersecurity, ESOL, and green skills. Providers include Sheffield City Council, RNN Group, The Sheffield College, Netcom Training, Workers' Educational Association, and Doncaster Deaf Trust, among others. A procurement framework for 2027 onwards was issued via Find-a-Tender (notice 023850-2025).

Organisations seeking to deliver SYMCA-funded adult skills training must apply for approved provider status through SYMCA's procurement process. Approved providers are funded on a per-learner basis, with rates and formulas published in SYMCA's Funding Rates and Formulas document for each academic year. The programme is connected to South Yorkshire's Renewal Action Plan (RAP) and supports the region's economic recovery by building workforce capacity in priority sectors. Training organisations with existing DfE-registered qualifications and quality assurance frameworks are best positioned to win and retain SYMCA ASF contracts.