Public Funding for Capslock Education Ltd

This project looks to address the rise in unemployment caused as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic by re-skilling individuals for roles within a sector that has a well recognised skills gap; the cyber security domain. COVID-19 has accelerated the need for online communication and more than ever businesses are struggling to keep pace with this new and changing environment. Approximately 9.5 million UK workers have been furloughed throughout the pandemic and a significant percentage of these and other workers have already or will lose their jobs as a direct result of COVID-19\. Alongside this economic crisis, cyber crime is at an all-time high requiring individuals to enter this sector in large numbers with practical real world experience and relevant skills. Capslock is a fully online learning academy delivering all of the curriculum remotely. It is designed to revolutionise careers and remove barriers to life-changing opportunity. Capslock delivers live, online, instructor-led courses around emerging technologies, and our learners do not pay a penny until they are fully employed. This project is to undertake the required research and development to design and test the delivery of a 16-week immersive online course, enabling 40 UK citizens to re-skill in cyber security with no up-front costs.This initiative will directly stimulate economic recovery, plug the urgent cyber security skills gap, and improve the UK's security posture. The curriculum will be built alongside key cyber security employers and is to be supported by the London Office for Rapid Cyber Advancement (www.lorca.co.uk). The project will look to deliver a curriculum that prepares individuals for immediate impact in the workplace with industry relevant skills. Cyber security has suffered from a lack of female specialists and currently has a significant issue in attracting women to redress this imbalance. Capslock has a gender diverse team to lead on this project and will actively seek to recruit female learners onto the course. This project will therefore ensure under-represented demographics are allocated places on the cohort. A minimum of 20 learners will be from under-represented demographics such as female, BAME, disabled, or neurodiverse. This project has a positive impact on climate change and COVID recovery by reducing the need for learners to commute to a physical classroom/campus; remove the need for a learner campus; and eliminate the requirement for trainers to relocate/travel .Capslock unlocks the world's true potential by removing barriers to career-changing tech education.