The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced a £23m programme to provide skills and employment support to 20,000 unemployed Londoners.

Visiting A4e, a training centre in Shepherd's Bush that helps Londoners back into work and ensures the capital's businesses have access to skilled staff, the Mayor announced the 32 recommended projects that will benefit from the funding. During the visit, he reiterated his intention to boost the capital's skills base through innovative and personalised training and support programmes.  

More than 20,000 people are expected to benefit from the new programme, and, of those, 10,000 are expected to take up further training or jobs. A4e, along with the other recipients, will target people who haven't successfully engaged with the mainstream welfare to work system and build on the knowledge and experience they have of working with people facing particular difficulties, including the long-term unemployed, the newly unemployed lacking skills, refugees and the disabled.

The personalised service will tailor support – whether it is CV-writing help, interview training, skills acquisition or English language lessons – to the individual.

The programme is delivered through the London Development Agency (LDA) and co-financed by the LDA and the European Social Fund.