A joined-up approach to UK skills policy

Front cover of the report
Year
2025
Publisher
The British Academy
Number of pages
17

Executive Summary

This report is part of the British Academy's Economic Strategy Programme.

It is generally accepted that skills are a key driver of economic productivity and economic dynamism. They are a means by which individuals and communities can become resilient to social and economic change and are a key driver of innovation and social mobility. However, over the long-term, UK skills policy has failed to produce a system that fully realises these benefits. The UK has seen a fall in employer-provided training over time and evidence of weak managerial capability. This report makes the case that, to be successful, a coherent set of post-secondary skills policies should coordinate with and be well-aligned to other policy areas; consider the needs of employers and individuals; be adaptable to change; and be flexible to local needs.

To achieve these aims, there is an urgent requirement for better designed skills investment at all stages, through post-secondary to tertiary education and over an individual’s lifecycle. Employers should be incentivised to invest in their workers’ skills (for example, through strategic tax policy) but also need to be actively supported at a local level to do so. This could include through financial support for skills investment, as well as closer collaboration between firms and education and training providers to ensure employers’ needs are taken into account. As challenges in skills gaps and in under-utilisation vary regionally, the appropriate policy response will often be at the regional level.

Alongside investment in people, efforts need to be made to improve managerial ability to identify, develop and utilise employees’ skills effectively. Firms need to have better managerial capability to respond to challenges and create a productive workplace where skills can be developed and fully utilised.

Individuals should enter the labour market with a broad set of ‘core skills’ that make them capable of finding a good job match and retraining and/or moving occupation when employers demand changes. Therefore, skills policy must aim to ensure all individuals possess a secure foundation of basic literacy and numeracy skills, as well as developing advanced analytical/ technical skills. The demand for soft or social skills that enhance team-work productivity is also increasing.

The increasing need for core skills requires attention to the curriculum in educational institutions as well as increasing investment. Areas requiring particular attention include the level and structure of funding in further and higher education; more apprenticeships for young people; the ‘missing middle’ between upper secondary education and university degrees; and measures to ensure adults can access public support for retraining over the lifecycle.

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