A Co-operative Bank spokesperson has sought to raise the profile of Career Development Loans (CDLs), saying they can “change the course” of your career.

CDLs are available to help you pay for educational courses or fund learning programmes and can be anywhere from £300 to £8,000. One of the major perks is that interest on the loans is paid by the government while you are studying.

The scheme is run by the Department for Education and Skills and the loans are available from three of the main high street banks: The Co-operative, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Co-op was keen to highlight the relative advantages to taking out a CDL: “It’s a loan to help people take vocational courses,” it said.

“It allows you to enhance and change the direction of your career.”

The idea behind the scheme is to allow people to concentrate on advancing their own learning without incurring the massive financial burden of an uncompetitive loan rate as they undertake their course of study.

To read more about loans, click here.

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