Niace: More training courses needed for older people

11:24 28th January 2009

According to the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), more training courses and opportunities are needed for people in their 50s.

The organisation says that as the number of older people continues to swell in the UK, it is important to ensure that there is proper access to additional training so that fewer people are likely to rely on others in their later years.

People aged in their 50s and above have far less access to computer courses and IT training than graduates or younger employees.

Tom Schuller, director of the Independent Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning, said: "We have very large growing numbers of older people and if we don't enable them to keep their brains alive, instead of being positive contributors to society, they are more likely to become dependent."

Mr Schuller added that employees in their 50s still have up to 20 years of their working lives to go and face real problems keeping up with the rest of the world if they are unable to get the relevant training.

The Office for National Statistics recently revealed that 180,000 jobs were lost during the third quarter of last year.