Go back to school to get £30

Adults who left school unable to read are to be paid £30 a week to go back and learn.

The scheme is aimed at reducing the "skills gap" in British industry.

The Association of Colleges said it expected that about 100,000 adults would be eligible for the payments - and many more who left with fewer than five GCSE passes at grades A to C will get free tuition to get them up to that level.

The entitlement is part of a Skills Strategy White Paper. The proposals also include an expansion of the Modern Apprenticeship scheme and a new adult learning grant for those f rom poorer backgrounds going into fulltime adult education.

It is likely that programmes of study would have to be approved before they received government funding.