There is a massive social injustice at the heart of our post-18 education system. It is estimated that the state spends around £29,000 on average subsidising the education of the 50 per cent or so of young people who go to university (a figure which is largely attributable to losses on loan repayments and which also varies widely between courses). Far less is spent on those who do not go to university, which acts to shore up deep-seated social inequalities. There is comparatively little provision for those young people leaving school without functional literacy and numeracy skills, or for people who need to retrain because of the changing skills needs of the economy as a result of trends like automation.

We need to completely rethink how we fund education and training provision for adults after compulsory education. The starting point should be to extend the approximately £29,000 we spend on the disproportionately middle-class group of young people who go to university to everyone, but the aim should be to spend more on all. One proposal would be to create a lifetime drawdown fund that follows individuals throughout their career that they can use to learn, train and retrain at key points.

Some people might use it to put towards the costs of university and then also dip into it later in life for reskilling. Others might choose to spend it on degree-level apprenticeships, which allow them to work and earn while they learn. Other programmes could aim to develop the skills like teamwork that are important in a service-based economy. The money could be used to bridge the gap between full-time education and work, such as supporting a year of volunteering abroad or in different parts of the country. It could be supplemented by a bespoke lifetime careers service that people can draw on to help them make decisions about how to use their fund for developing skills and retraining in a way that suits them.

It is wrong that we concentrate the vast majority of post-18 education and skills funding on half of young people, for a relatively brief window in their lives. It would be more equitable and effective to extend these resources to everyone, available to draw on throughout their working lives.

This article was originally published as part of Minister for the Future in partnership with Prospect. Illustrations by Ian Morris. You can read the original feature on the Prospect website.