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Help paying for learning that improves your career prospects

Think that getting back into study would boost your job prospects? Planning to change career, but need to retrain? Already studying, but want to build your skills further by doing an additional course?

A Professional and Career Development Loan could help you pay for learning that improves your career prospects.

How Professional and Career Development Loans work

A Professional and Career Development Loan is a bank loan. You make an agreement with a participating bank to borrow an amount between £300 and £10,000. Then once you’ve stopped studying, you pay it back in the normal way.

The difference with a Professional and Career Development Loan is that the Skills Funding Agency pays the interest on the loan while you’re studying – and for one month afterwards.

After this, you’ll pay interest at the rate fixed when you took out the loan. Interest rates on the loans are set so they’re competitive with other ‘unsecured’ personal loans that are commercially available.

Currently, banks offer Professional and Career Development Loans at a reduced customer rate of 9.9% per annum, equivalent to a typical APR of 5-6% over the lifetime of the loan. However, interest rates may vary from bank to bank. For further information, consult the participating banks.

Don’t forget that a Professional and Career Development Loan isn’t for everyone and that there are other types of financial help available. See ‘Help with learning costs: an introduction’ for details.

• Help with learning costs: an introduction

How you can use a Professional and Career Development Loan

Real experiences: new career takes off

A flying instructor's course helped one woman achieve her life-long ambition...

"I've achieved my long-term dream of becoming a helicopter pilot and teaching others to fly... If I can do it, anyone can"

- Pat Agnew

Courses covered by Professional and Career Development Loans

A Professional and Career Development Loan can help to fund a wide range of courses lasting up to two years (or three years, if the course includes a year of work experience).

The course doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a qualification, but it must be one that will help with your career. You’ll find detailed information in the application pack, but in general a Professional and Career Development Loan could be an option for:

• a postgraduate course, like a masters
• technical or management training
• a professional qualification
• a course at your local college or learning provider
• an additional bachelors degree (if you’re already a graduate)

Costs you can use a Professional and Career Development Loan to help with

You can use a Professional and Career Development Loan to help with:

• course fees (up to 80 per cent of the total - or up to 100 per cent if you’ve been unemployed for three months)
• other course costs, like books, travel and childcare
• living expenses, like rent, food and clothing (if you are unemployed or working less than 30 hours per week)

What you can’t use a Professional and Career Development Loan for

Professional and Career Development Loans are intended to help with costs that aren’t covered by other sources of public funding.

For example, you couldn’t get one if you’re planning to study full-time for a first degree (because there’s a separate package of student loans available).

Other times you can't use a Professional and Career Development Loan include, to help pay for:

• a foundation or access course used as a step towards a degree course (however, a stand-alone foundation course that leads to employment in its own right would be eligible)
• the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL, otherwise known as the Common Professional Examination or CPE) as this is a course that can lead to the Legal Practice Course (LPC) or Bar Vocational Course (BVC)
• careers advice or help with job hunting
• the costs of running or starting up a business (for example, marketing or buying a franchise licence)
• a course from a learning provider based in the European Union if an equivalent course is available in the UK
• a course from a learning provider based outside the European Union if an equivalent course is available within the EU (including the UK)

So check the details in the application pack, and get advice if you’re not sure whether your course qualifies.

Need to talk to someone?

For advice on your application, call the National Careers Service on 0800 100 900. You can also email the National Careesr Service for advice, or book a call back from an adviser at a time that suits you.

• Book a free call from a National Careers Service adviser Opens new window

• Email the National Careers Service Opens new window

Could you get a Professional and Career Development Loan?

To be eligible, you’ll need to be:

• 18 or over
• ‘settled’ in the UK, and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least the three years prior to the start of your learning programme
• intending to work in the UK, the EU or the EEA when the course finishes

‘Settled’ means having either indefinite leave to enter or remain or having the right of abode in the UK.

Remember: even if you meet these conditions, the decision on whether you’ve been successful in your application remains with the bank. The bank’s decision will depend on you meeting their specific lending criteria. If you think there might be any problems with your credit rating, talk to your bank before you apply.

Get the facts on repaying Professional and Career Development Loans

You can borrow any amount from £300 to £10,000.

You’ll need to agree the size of the loan with the bank before you apply. It’s essential to be realistic, and not borrow more than you can afford to repay. The loan repayments aren't linked to your income like with a student loan for example. You must start repaying one month after your course has finished.

• Repaying a Professional and Career Development Loan

Remember that Professional and Career Development Loans aren’t right for everyone: see ‘How to apply for a Professional and Career Development Loan’ for more tips on what to consider.

Get an application pack

• How to apply for a Professional and Career Development Loan

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