Following the government’s decision to withdraw support for the Union Learning Fund staff at unionlearn and the TUC have been working hard to minimise the impact of the cut, and continue to offer high quality support for unions, reps, and workplace learners.

From the 1st of April, there will be some changes to our learning and skills work, the TUC Education & Stronger Unions team will coordinate and maintain some of the core learning and skills activities.

The TUC will continue its learning and skills policy work, the training and development of Union Learning Reps (ULRs) and the impressive repertoire of digital tools and resources so unions can continue to support union learners.
 
The TUC will continue to maintain and develop the unionlearn website and digital assets such as the union learning Climbing Frame, online skills assessment tools, bitesize eLearning modules and so forth, to help build ULR capacity and support for unions learning and skills work.
 
TUC regional teams will help to build and maintain regional ULR networks. The regional ULR offer will include network meetings, learning events and training opportunities that provide opportunities for ULRs to develop and share good practice. The withdrawal of the Union Learning Fund will reduce our learning and skills capacity, therefore the strategy to support ULRs in the future will be more focused on digital tools and resources.

Unionlearn Service Team Manager Ian Borkett said:

We all understand that the loss of the ULF will have a dramatic impact on union learning and on the support that the TUC and unions are able to give to working people, many of whom are only able to participate in learning opportunities because of that support.”
 
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the unions, organisations and thousands of Union Learning Reps that have supported unionlearn and continue to help so many people by supporting learners in the workplace.” 

We would also like to wish the very best to all the many union and unionlearn colleagues that are leaving this month. Your contributions have been phenomenal and together we have changed so many lives through learning.”

For the latest news and developments on the future of union learning support please visit the unionlearn website at: www.unionlearn.org.uk