Research and analysis

Low-skilled adults are missing out on training: the skills gap

Adult training is often only available to workers who are highly paid or skilled with those with the lowest qualifications losing out on training.

• From: Social Mobility Commission
• Published: 29 January 2019

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Adult skills gap and the falling investment in adults with low qualifications (HTML)

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Adult skills gap and the falling investment in adults with low qualifications

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Details

The report finds that:

• disadvantaged adults with the lowest qualifications are the least likely to access adult training despite being the group who would benefit most
• overall investment in adult skills from employers, government and individuals was around £44 billion in 2013 to 2014 - government funds just 7% of this training
• government funding for the Adult Skills Budget fell by £830 million (cash terms) between 2010 to 2011, and from £2.84 billion to £2.01 billion, equivalent to a 34% fall (real terms) between 2015 to 2016
• graduates are 3 times more likely to receive training than those with no qualifications, while professionals and managers are about twice as likely to receive training as lower-skilled workers

Published 29 January 2019