Career development loans

Sole traders who want to learn new skills may find a Career Development Loan more appropriate.
These are similar to normal personal loans and are used to finance vocational learning or educational courses. For example, NVQs.

You can get a loan of between £300 and £8,000 to cover up to 80 per cent of your course fees (100 per cent if you have been out of work for three or more months). The Government will pay the interest on your loan during the course. You then repay the loan to the lender over an agreed period at a fixed rate of interest.
Loans are available through Barclays, the
Co-operative Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Contact the Career Development Loan Information Line on 0800 585 505 or visit www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/cdl