Guidance

AI Upskilling fund: application guide (closed to applications)

Updated 22 August 2024

This guide sets out what the AI Upskilling fund pilot is and how to apply for funding.

Application window closed to applications on 18 August 2024.

About the AI Upskilling fund pilot

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) recently announced a £7.4 million pilot scheme to subsidise the cost of AI skills training for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Professional Business Services (PBS) sector. Of this, £6.4 million is available. This pilot is funded through the £37.5 million Labour Market Evaluations and Pilots fund (LMEP), announced by the Chancellor at Spring Budget 2023.

Evidence shows that a lack of AI skills in businesses is hindering AI adoption, in part due to low investment in AI upskilling by UK businesses. This is particularly true in smaller companies. The pilot aims to increase AI adoption and productivity by incentivising greater employer-led investment in skills and training. Eligible businesses could apply for funding for up to 50% of the cost of AI skills training and other AI upskilling activities. The training should support employees to develop their technical skills and/or understanding of AI, helping them develop, deploy, or use AI in their role. 

Specifically, the objectives of the pilot are to: 

• stimulate employer investment in AI training
• address AI skills gaps in the UK workforce that are limiting AI adoption
• measure the impact of AI upskilling on business productivity and outcomes

Who could apply

To apply, you needed to be a representative of an individual business and the business must: 

• be registered and operate in the UK
• employ between 1 to 249 employees in the UK
• be defined as an SME per the BEIS SME action plan: 2022 to 2025
• have been operating for at least 1 year at the time of application
• operate in the Professional and Business Services sector as defined by the SIC codes in Table 1 (where a business has multiple SIC codes, you are eligible to apply as long as at least one of the SIC codes is on the list)

We do not accept applications from consortiums and only accept one application per business.

Table 1: Eligible SIC codes

SIC (Division)	Description
M – Professional, scientific, and technical activities (69)	Legal activities/accounting, bookkeeping and audit
M – Professional, scientific, and technical activities (70)	Activities of head offices, management consultancy
M – Professional, scientific, and technical activities (71)	Architectural and engineering activities, technical testing and analysis
M – Professional, scientific, and technical activities (72)	Scientific research and development
M – Professional, scientific, and technical activities (73)	Advertising and market research
M – Professional, scientific, and technical activities (74)	Other professional, scientific and technical activities
N – Administrative and support service activities (77)	Rental and leasing activities
N – Administrative and support service activities (78)	Employment activities
N – Administrative and support service activities (82)	Office administration and other business support activities

^{Note: Businesses with these codes are eligible to apply. Other codes are not eligible.}

Applying for funding

How much funding you could apply for

The aim of the pilot is to subsidise the cost of AI skills training by 50%. For example, a small-sized business could apply for up to £5,000 of grant funding to pay for 50% of AI skills training which costs £10,000.

You could apply for funding depending on the size of your business, as defined by BEIS SME action plan: 2022 to 2025, and the maximum amount of funding set out in Table 2. There is no minimum requirement on the amount of funding you can request.

We will fund a range of businesses across the micro, small and medium-sized business categories, and we may limit the total number of businesses that can be awarded funding in each size category. This will not change the maximum amount of funding available for each application.

If, over the course of the pilot, we do not receive enough applications from a category we may reallocate funding to the other categories.

Table 2: Maximum grant funding available

Business size	Headcount	Annual Turnover	Balance Sheet Total	Maximum grant funding available (per applicant)
Micro	Under 10	Under €2 million	Under €2 million	£2,500
Small	Under 50	Under €10 million	Under €10 million	£5,000
Medium-sized	Under 250	Under €50 million	Under €43 million	£10,000

What can funding be spent on

Funding awarded through this pilot can only be spent on eligible activities. Eligible training, courses and certification programmes will include, but are not limited to: 

• off-the-shelf training courses
• classroom learning
• online or distance learning
• certification or accreditation programs

Third party development of bespoke training or learning resources may also be included, as long as the resources are for the individual business and not already available in the market.

Eligible activities

To be eligible, the activity must meet all the following criteria: 

Is related to core AI skills sets and support the adoption of AI in the workplace. These may include machine learning, natural language programming or data science. A full list of skills is included in Annex A.

Starts no earlier than the date that the grant funding agreement is signed by both parties (expected September 2024) and end no later than 31 March 2025. We are unable to fund training that extends beyond 31 March 2025 or retrospective activity.

Is delivered by an eligible training provider. This is a provider that is:

• registered in the UK
• is at least one years old on 18 August 2024, and
• meets any one of the following criteria:
  • is registered on the UK Register of Learning Providers,
  • is an organisation listed in Annex B, or
  • is accredited by one of the organisations in Annex B

Is not already subsidised by government for employers. For example, Skills Bootcamps are not eligible.

Is not delivered by your own company to your own employees. For example, training delivered in-house is not eligible.

What funding cannot be spent on

Funding is for the delivery of AI skills training only. It is not for the cost of: 

• purchasing of AI technologies
• business advice of consulting
• recruitment activity
• work placement or internship salaries
• capital expenditure^{[footnote 1]}

Funding cannot be used for developing in-house training material or training materials for external companies. For example, you are not able to use this funding to develop and/or deliver training to businesses other than the business named on this application form. 

How funding is awarded

The LMEP funding this pilot, aims to continue to build the evidence base on the effectiveness of policies to improve labour market outcomes, including by funding novel or experimental evaluations. This pilot may award funding through a:

• randomised controlled trial (RCT) where a pre-defined merit threshold is set and funding is awarded by a lottery
• merit-based allocation of the available funding

Funding will be provided by DSIT in the financial year (FY) of April 2024 to March 2025. If you are successful, you must complete delivery of training and submit invoices for payment by March 2025. 

If your application is unsuccessful, we will inform you if this is because it did not pass the eligibility or merit threshold, or because it was randomly selected through the RCT to not receive funding.

Minimum Financial Assistance

This grant funding is awarded under Minimum Financial Assistance exceptions to the UK Subsidy Control regime.

DSIT offers a Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act (2022), subject to your agreement to, and compliance with, the terms and conditions set out in the statutory guidance ‘Subsidy Control: a guide for beneficiaries’. 

The amount of MFA offered is up to £10,000 (see Table 2).

The application and how it is assessed

Section 1: application details

This section is not assessed.

Section 2: applicant eligibility

You were asked for information about your organisation. This may vary depending on your organisation type, but will include:

• the legal name
• organisation type (for example a limited company)
• registered address
• Charity Commission number (if applicable)
• Companies House number (if applicable)

This information is used to carry out compliance and verification checks.

We did also ask for the name and contact details of a nominated lead contact.

Section 3: training eligibility

We do not influence your decision about a training provider, however we encourage you to research your training requirements in detail and reference the training eligibility criteria before you apply. Annex B provides guidance about accrediting bodies to help with your search for eligible training providers.

Verifying training providers

Training providers will need to be verified by us. To support this, you will need to provide the:

• name of the provider
• UKPRN number of the provider or the name and accreditation number of the awarding organisation
• name of the training course
• supporting training course links

This information should be available on the training provider’s website.

Please note, the application must include the business name associated with a UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN). If this name is different to the name of the training provider delivering the training, please explain how they are related. For example, if the training is delivered by a department or business school within a university, both the university’s name and the department’s name should be specified. This enables us to confirm a training provider’s eligibility under the pilot scheme.

A UKPRN can be found on the UK Registered Learning Provider (UKRLP) database.

Supporting information

In addition, you will need to provide supporting information about the training. This should include the:

• AI skills covered by the course
• qualification level of the course
• nature, length and purpose of the training
• skill level, job role and number of your employee(s) to be trained

This supporting information will be used to create the pilot evaluation that is outlined in the grant funding agreement.

Before starting this section, please ensure you have considered your training needs and have all the information available.

Section 4: proposal outline

The 2 questions in this section are an opportunity for you to tell us about your AI training needs, and how you intend to use the training to overcome the complex AI challenges faced in your industry.

Your answers will be reviewed in isolation and graded using a score out of 10. Answers will not be graded against other applicants and your score will be based on how clearly you communicate your business needs and how you will use the training.

For consistency, a minimum scoring threshold is set against the objectives of the fund.

Questions

Question 1 asked you to provide an overview of your organisation’s AI adoption, AI skill levels and any challenges faced in upskilling employees in AI and/or implementing AI. You had 250 words to complete this question and explain:

• what your organisation is and does
• the level of knowledge of AI in your employees and business overall
• existing technology adoption and AI adoption within your business, if any
• the barriers, if any, that you currently face on upskilling employees in AI
• any training on AI or other relevant training that has already been delivered to employees within the business

Question 2 asked you to explain how the training funded through this scheme will help mitigate the challenges you set out in your first answer, and what benefits and outcomes you expect to see within your business following the upskilling. You had 350 words to complete this question and explain:

• what AI skills your employee(s) will have after completing the training that they did not have before
• how the AI skills training will enable your business to adopt AI
• which business areas or functions will the AI training support
• what success looks like in terms of completing and using the skills learnt from the training and how will you measure this

Assessing your application

Your application will be assessed on the eligibility criteria and your scores out of 10.

Sections 2, 3 and 4 will be assessed.

Firstly, an assessor will carry out a sift based on the eligibility of the applicant section. This will have a pass or fail outcome.

Secondly a sift on the eligibility of the training, will be carried out. This sift will also have a pass or fail outcome.

Finally, your proposal will be assessed against how well it aligns with the objectives of the scheme, and each question will be given a score out of 10.

To be successful, you must:

• provide the relevant details in sections 1, 2 and 3
• receive a pass on the eligibility criteria
• receive a minimum score of 3 for each question in section 4

After applying

We plan to send a result letter to all applicants in September 2024. If your application is successful, you will be expected to sign the grant funding agreement (see a draft funding agreement) and confirm that the funding will be spent in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the agreement.

Once the training is delivered and you have evidence of payment, you will need to submit a payment request to the Cabinet Office Government Grant Managed Service (GGMS), who are administering the pilot scheme on DSIT’s behalf.

We expect all applicants to have completed the training activities related to this scheme by 31 March 2025. Funding cannot be carried over into the next financial year and to manage the risk of underspending accumulating towards the end of the funding period, we will actively monitor spending. We expect that any funding awarded by DSIT is spent during FY 24/25.

Timeframe

Please note that the timeframes may be subject to change.

Table 3: expected timeframes

Date	Activity
1 May 2024	Pilot scheme launches for applicants to submit applications
18 August 2024	Application window closes
September 2024	Award letters issued
September onwards 2024	Successful applicants to procure and deliver training
September 2024 – March 2025	Successful applicants submit requests for payment following training delivery
March 2025	Final deadline for request for payment
31 March 2025	All requests for payment submitted and all training completed

Please note that the independent external evaluation and analysis of the pilot scheme is expected to continue after 31 March 2025.

Sharing your information

We will follow all applicable data protection laws in how we treat your personal information. Our privacy notice for the Flexible AI Upskilling fund gives more information on how we handle your information.

Please note that by submitting an application for grant funding for the AI Upskilling fund, you agree to be contacted by DSIT and our delivery partners for future surveys that contribute to the evaluation of the pilot. If you are unsuccessful in your application and would like to opt out, please email us at [email protected].

Further support

Cross-sectional guidance

Unsure about how to understand your AI upskilling needs, or need help identifying the type of training your employees would benefit from?

DSIT, in collaboration with InnovateUK and the Alan Turing Institute, has published cross-sectoral guidance outlining the relevant skills and competencies employees need to use AI in a business setting. The Turing website also has other useful support for identifying your AI skills needs.

Video guides

Watch applying to the AI Upskilling Fund webinar.

AI Upskilling fund: Applying to the AI Upskilling Fund Webinar Recording.

Watch a step-by-step walkthrough of the application to the AI Upskilling fund, including how to prepare and what to expect once you submit the application.

​Watch the application walkthrough.

Watch the walkthrough demo of the Find a Grant service.

Introducing Find a Grant for grant applicants.

Watch the pre-launch information webinar that provides more detail on training eligibility, funding and how to apply.

AI Upskilling fund pilot: Pre-launch Information Webinar Recording

Guide to assessing training provider quality

We have also developed a short guide, Annex C, to help you make decisions on training providers and course quality when procuring AI training for your business.

Apply now

Application window closed to applications at 11:59 pm on 18 August 2024.

Annex A: Core AI Skills

• Artificial Intelligence 

• Machine Learning

• Natural Language Processing 

• Neural Networks 

• Computer Vision 

• Cognitive Computing 

• Computational Intelligence 

• Data Science 

• Logistic Regression 

• Support Vector Machine 

• Feature Engineering 

• Expert Systems 

• Fuzzy Logic 

• Generative Adversarial Networks 

• Knowledge-Based Systems 

• Machine Vision 

• Predictive Analytics 

• Reasoning Systems 

• Reinforcement Learning 

• Sentiment Analysis 

• Programming 

• Big Data

• Data Analysis 

• Smart Systems 

• Supervised Learning 

• Semi-Supervised Learning 

• Unsupervised Learning 

• Text Mining 

• Variational Autoencoders 

• Image Recognition 

• Complex Adaptive Systems 

• Data Intelligence 

• Chatbot 

• Word2Vec Models 

• Data Mining 

• Deep Learning 

• Generative Models 

• Robotics 

• Algorithms 

• Autonomous

• AI Governance 

• AI Risk 

• AI Safety 

• AI Ethics

Annex B: List of accrediting bodies

Please note that the list below is conclusive except for ‘3. A professional body that proves they are relevant to the sector’. If there is a professional body or association relevant to your sector which you believe should be included here, please indicate this in your answer to the relevant question in your application.

1. An organisation that proves they provide training

• AACSB

• Small Business Charter (SBC)

• ISO 21001:2018 – Educational organizations

• ISO 29993:2017 – Learning services outside formal education

• CPD Certification Service

• British Accreditation Council

• Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development

• Ofsted

• UKAS

• Institute of Training and Occupational Learning

• Ofqual

• Quality License Scheme

• Office for Students

• IfATE (Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education)

• Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP)

2. An organisation that proves they operate within the field of AI or data science

• A member of the Alliance for Data Science Professionals:
  • Royal Statistical Society (RSS)
  • BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
  • Operational Research Society (ORS)
  • Royal Academy of Engineering
  • NPL (National Physical Laboratory)
  • The Royal Society
  • Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
  • Alan Turing Institute

• International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

• Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)

• ISO/IEC 42001:2023 - Artificial intelligence

• Institute of Science and Technology (IST)

3. A professional body that proves they are relevant to the sector

• PBSC members

• Law Society

• Institute of Chartered Accountants in England in Wales (ICAEW)

• Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

• Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

• Institute of Sales Management (ISM)

• Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT)

• Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

• Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA)

• Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

• The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

• The Market Research Society (MRS)

• The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)

• Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA)

• The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)

• Advertising Association (AA)

• Management Consultancies Association (MCA)

• Association of Translation Companies (ATC)

• Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM)

• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)

• Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL)

• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

• Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)

• Customer Contact Association (CCA)

• Chartered Institute of Trademark Attorneys (CITMA)

• British Institute of Recruiters (BIoR)

• Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers (IAB)

• The Society of Professional Accountants (SPA)

• Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB)

• Bar Council/General Council of the Bar

• Events Industry Alliance (EIA)

• British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA)

• Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo)

• The Data and Marketing Association

• ISBA

• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers

• The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE)

• Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS)

• Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE)

• Royal Institute of British Architects

• Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Annex C: Guide to assessing training provider quality

During your discussions with training providers, consider some or all of the following questions to determine if the training will meet your business objectives and the AI upskilling needs of your employees. Not all questions may be relevant to your specific circumstances.

Aims and objectives 

• Does the proposed training have clear aims and learning outcomes?

• Does the training provider demonstrate an awareness of the needs of your workforce?

• Does the training provider describe how they will work with you to adapt delivery to meet your employees’ training needs, e.g. through a Training Needs Analysis?

• Does the training provider describe how they will adapt the training for your business objectives e.g. building a challenge for your organisation as a case study?

• Does the training provider demonstrate how the curriculum addresses the needs of the Personas in the AI Skills for Business Competency Framework?

• Does the training provider clearly describe how this training would contribute towards professional recognition or subsequent training for your delegates?

Design and delivery 

• Are the learning activities clearly described and mapped to the Learning Outcomes?

• Is the training provider able to deliver training to the target number of learners?

• Are the number of training hours proportionate to the scope of the training and are they achievable for your delegates alongside competing demands?

• Does the learning activity have the flexibility to adapt pace to learner needs and to be responsive to your discussions?

• Does the training provider demonstrate how they meet accessibility requirements? E.g. appropriate training locations, staff assistance and accessibility of digital materials.

Quality 

• Does the training provider demonstrate which technical skills from the AI Skills for Business Competency Framework the curriculum addresses?

• Has the training provider secured accreditation for their activity, or otherwise been recognised for providing a quality service?

• Are methods for recognising and recording learner progress and achievement clear and understandable?

• Does the training provider demonstrate that trainers have relevant and up-to-date knowledge and experience? e.g. qualifications and professional experience.

• Does the training provider have clear processes in place to ensure training is up-to-date, technically accurate, and of a high quality.

Evaluation and feedback 

• Are processes in place to identify whether learning objectives have been met?

• Does the training provider have a well-documented feedback and evaluation process?

• Is there evidence how feedback will be acted upon?

1. Capital expenditure means money used to acquire, adapt or maintain fixed assets, such as land, buildings and equipment, which is normally capitalised in the provider’s audited annual accounts. ↩