The government has announced the launch of Skills England to bring skills stakeholders together to develop a single picture of national skills needs and align the system to meet the skills needs of the next decade. 

With over 15 years of experience in developing essential skills at scale, the Skills Builder Partnership looks forward to working with the new body, building on our work with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to improve occupational standards, and the Unit for Future Skills.

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How do essential skills fit into the picture?

• Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) across the country and frequent employer surveys by organisations like the CBI consistently identify gaps in essential skills in the workforce.
• The cost of low essential skills to the UK economy is similar to that of literacy and numeracy: £22bn in 2022. (Essential Skills Tracker, 2023)
• Essential skills are vital now, and their importance in the workplace will continue with AI and automation
• There were an estimated 559,000 economically inactive young people aged 16 to 24 years who were NEET in the UK in October- December 2023. Individuals with higher levels of essential skills are 25-50% less likely to be out of work or education.
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Recommendations from the Partnership

Working with employers, impact organisations and educators, we’ve identified three recommendations to help Skills England achieve its ambitious goals.
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(1) Adopt the Universal Framework

The ambition is for Skills England to “bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade”. Skills England should join 900 other partners in adopting the Universal Framework as a common language. 

This would align employers, training providers and local authorities towards a shared objective of boosting essential skills while supporting regional variation. The Universal Framework provides a clear, structured approach to developing essential skills such as teamwork, leadership, speaking, and problem-solving.

Employers, impact organisations and education institutions across the Skills Builder Partnership are already realising the benefits of a shared language and approach to essential skills. 

To ensure everyone enjoys a lifelong journey of skills development, Skills England should join up essential skills development (including through careers education) in schools with further and higher education and continue to support that development into adult education and training.
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(2) Prioritise essential skills in the post-16 skills strategy

A joined up national skills strategy is critical to solving skills gaps. The post-16 skills strategy should ensure essential skills are prioritised within the strategy, to unite and drive action from educators, training providers and employers to boost essential skills. 

This includes finding those opportunities to build essential skills through qualifications and apprenticeships, and to ensure that these are assessed in ways that are robust and which support individual progress and enable them to realise the full potential of their technical skills.
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(3) Carry over momentum from IfATE and the Unit for Future Skills

Skills England should build on the momentum generated by IfATE and the Unit for Future Skills (UFS). IfATE recommends use of the Universal Framework in guidance on how to develop an occupational/apprenticeship standard. The UFS’s report A Skills Classification for the UK highlighted that “the language used to describe skills is inconsistent and unnecessarily complicated. The sharing of information on skills between key agencies is hampered by these problems and a standardised classification of skills is thus long overdue”. The report highlights the Universal Framework as the widely-adopted solution for building and measuring essential skills.

The ambitions of Skills England have the potential to unite stakeholders in action to reduce the skills gap in the UK. By uniting stakeholders around the Universal Framework, Skills England can boost the nation’s essential skills, equipping individuals with the skills they need to succeed.