According to research, a skills crisis is affecting productivity and growth in many UK industries and the education system is not providing their needs. Additionally, investment in skills development, by organisations, has not recovered since the 2008 recession.

A survey carried out by City & Guilds Group and Emsi - a labour market analytics company - revealed that 61 per cent of the 2,000 working age adults polled say they do not feel equipped with all the skills they will need for the next five years - with 64 per cent stating that they had not received any training in the past year and 30 per cent not receiving any workplace training in the past year.  The survey attributed this to budget restraint due to the pandemic.

To understand the impact of the lack of skills, over 1,000 UK employers were polled to find out how they are faring in terms of recruiting and training the skilled workers - and what challenges they see as being on the horizon.

• 90 per cent of employers said that they struggle with skills gaps.
• 47 per cent of employers stated that skills gaps were the internal factor most likely to impact their future productivity.
• 47 per cent of employers said that managers and team leaders were the most difficult jobs to fill. 
• 11 per cent of employers said that they never struggle to recruit the skilled staff they need.
• 19 per cent stated that they struggle all the time to recruit the skilled staff that they need.
• 66 per cent of employers anticipated the skills gaps will stay the same or worsen.
• 33 per cent of employers think that skills gaps in their business will improve during the next three to five years.

The report showed that just 9 per cent of workers said that they were confident they had advanced digital skills, whilst 22 per cent of employers surveyed wanted advanced digital skills.

Two in five - 42 per cent - of employers said that they intended to invest in training and development to tackle skills gaps; 36 per cent stated that they planned to recruit apprentices or trainees; 14 per cent planned to recruit or retrain older workers and 20 per cent stated that they would retrain or recruit older workers.

Kirstie Donnelly - CEO of City & Guilds Group - stated that individuals, employers and the UK government needed to change their attitude regarding skills. 

“It is no longer possible to leave full-time education at 18 or 21 and never reskill again. We will require people and businesses to upskill and reskill throughout their working lives.”

She added:

“It’s clear that employers and employees may both struggle to keep pace with the rapid changes in skills needs being driven by factors such as AI and the move to net zero.”

Jane Hickie - Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers - said that the present system for funding adult skills was “bureaucratic and too slow” to respond to the changes in the world of work. She recommended that more should be done to support acceptance of the government’s national adult digital entitlement.