North East Scotland College (NESCol) is offering employers across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire up to £15,000 each in fully funded staff training, with up to £5,000 available per learner. The funding is limited and can be used for any NESCol part-time or online course, including daytime, evening, distance learning and professional development courses.

The training is supported through the Scottish Government’s New Flexible Workforce Development Fund and is open to Scotland-based private, public and third sector employers that implement, or are working towards, Fair Work practices. Eligible employees earn less than £33,000 a year and meet the fund’s family, age, care-experience or disability criteria.

Applications can be made by an employer or an individual employee, with each employer limited to one application, and NESCol’s workforce development team will help employers identify courses and complete the process.

NESCol, headquartered at its Aberdeen City campus on Gallowgate, was formed in 2013 through the merger of Aberdeen College and Banff and Buchan College and reported income of £53.8 million for the year to 31 July 2025. It is the only further education college in the North East of Scotland. It supports around 20,000 students across four campuses in Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

The structural driver is employers’ need to close skills gaps and retain staff, which the college says the funding supports through staff development, retention and a more confident, productive workforce.

Duncan Abernethy, assistant principal at NESCol, said the fund is about “creating opportunity through skills” and that helping people progress at work gives employers “the skilled workforce they need.”

NESCol is also offering free part-time and online courses to parents and carers with a child under 18 at home who are not in employment and have an individual income below £33,000.

For the sector, the offer confirms that colleges are brokering funded workforce training directly to employers, with application support built into the service.