An additional £15m worth of funding will be invested in the UK's heritage skills as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund's (HLF) Skills for the Future initiative.

The grants will support work-based training in a wide range of skills that are needed to look after museum and archive collections, as well as equipping people to lead education and outreach programmes, manage volunteers and use digital technology.

The new £15m investment adds to the £26.8m already distributed by HLF via the Skills for the Future scheme since 2009.

Dame Jenny Abramsky, chair of HLF, said the initiative will have a lasting impact on the sector and the wider economy.

"These grants - building on what has already been achieved since 2009 – are designed to address the shortage of skills and training opportunities and will provide hundreds more training places," she said.

"One of our key aims is to build organisational resilience within the sector. Ensuring people have the skills to look after our heritage is an important part of that.

"We know this works and we're delighted to be making a further £15m investment and look forward to receiving more great quality applications."