Learner Accounts are announced

The government's new "Learner Accounts" scheme is to be piloted in the South East and Midlands regions from September 2007.

Aiming to give learners control over their learning, the scheme has been set up to avoid the fraud and low-quality training that marred the Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) scheme, scrapped in 2001.

ILA account-holders were given £200 towards training, which could be spent on CD-ROMs rather than courses; this left the scheme open to abuse by bogus training providers. The National Audit Office estimated in 2002 that ILA fraud cost at least £67 million of public money.

Under the new scheme, only courses approved by the Learning and Skills Council will be eligible for funding, and no cash will be paid to students. Instead, they will have "virtual funds" to spend on courses.

After signing up for a course, learners will receive a statement confirming its cost and the amounts that they (or their employer) and the state will be expected to pay for it.

The pilot will make up to 4,000 accounts available to help learners over 19 gain qualifications such as A levels, National Vocational Qualifications and BTEC National Diplomas.

For more information on Learner Accounts, visit www.lsc.gov.uk