The skills puzzle: how far will Government support go in levelling up UK skills?

In September 2020, the UK Government announced the Lifetime Skills Guarantee (LSG), as part of the Plan for Jobs, a package of measures aimed at “levelling up” lifelong learning. The LSG is set to launch in April 2021, and offers people routes into vocational training that will give them the skills businesses value most. This aims to unlock better employment prospects, higher salaries and ultimately more secure work, after the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK market. However, funding alone won’t be enough to guarantee uptake of the training and courses on offer.

The challenge many employers and workers face in putting skills development at the top of their agenda is clear. Approximately 4.8 million mid-career workers (aged 25-49) are not currently eligible for redundancy pay. This includes 1.6 million mid-career workers in routine or manual occupations within vulnerable industries. At a time when many feel lucky to have a secure job, and others are facing reduced hours or redundancy, ensuring the Government’s LSG will see enough uptake to make a widespread impact will have its challenges.

The Work Foundation and Totaljobs are working in partnership on a new research programme to build new evidence about the labour market as we head in to 2021. As part of this, The Work Foundation analysed a range of publicly available data including the Labour Force Survey, alongside qualitative interviews with policy experts, industry bodies and employers. Access the reports here for a more in-depth look at the findings.

What is the Lifetime Skills Guarantee and who is eligible?

Adults without an A level or equivalent qualification (also known as ‘level 3’) are entitled to four years of post-18 education under the LSG. This group can also take out loans to pursue a level 3 qualification.

Current eligibility criteria means many people won’t get access to funded training

Many people who could benefit from additional training don’t qualify for the LSG. In fact, 1.4 million mid-career workers in routine or manual roles won’t see this support, because they already hold a level 3 qualification.

The majority of these workers are in similar jobs to the people who are eligible for the LSG, meaning the former could see similar benefits to accessing the training – if criteria was reassessed to include people with level 3 qualifications.

Separate to the project alongside The Work Foundation, Totaljobs research of 1,000 UK workers found that half of employed 25-50 year olds are interested in retraining for a new job, but do not know how to go about this. A further 61% are keen to learn new skills to improve their job prospects in their current industry – but are unsure how to do so. Clearly, the desire is there, and the LSG has the potential to maximise on this if eligibility can become more flexible.

Barriers to accessing training

It’s not just eligibility criteria that could stop people from accessing the LSG who could benefit from it. Situational and systemic barriers play a role too, which means the Government scheme might not meet its aims, unless changes are made.

Lack of confidence

Over 7.5 million mid-career workers have not received any training since leaving full time education. Alongside this, training generally decreases with age. Between 31% and 28% of 16 to 24-year-old workers participate in training, while for 30-49 year olds this drops to 25%.

A lack of access to previous training can create a cycle that leaves people in routine and manual roles in particular feeling that adult education policies aren’t created for them, or that the personal investment (time, emotional and financial for non-Government led courses), isn’t worth the result at the end.

A broader education piece is needed to enable workers to see the benefits of training, and feel confident that time spent upskilling or reskilling will truly unlock opportunities for them, whether that’s progression in an existing role, a new job in a different industry, or more secure employment.

Restrictions in the welfare system

Restrictions embedded in the Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), Universal Credit and Income Support schemes mean that people receiving welfare support are unable to spend a significant amount of time training or gaining new qualifications.

For example, the 1.4 million people in the middle of their working lives who receive Universal Credit must actively job hunt for 35 hours per week. This leaves little time to focus on skills development.

Similarly, the 202,385 people aged 25-49 receiving Job Seekers Allowance and 164,014 people receiving Income Support can’t complete 16 or more hours of training per week. Again, this cap means certain training programmes – including the Lifetime Skills Guarantee – don’t take into account many people who should be able to use the LSG to their benefit.

Family commitments

Up to 1.9 million mid-career workers with dependent children aged under 16 may find it harder to access training opportunities as a result of caring and family responsibilities. The Skills and Employment Survey 2017 highlights that 21% of working parents consider childcare commitments mean they are unable to access training.

Without flexibility embedded into training programmes – whether Government or employer driven – some workers will continue to miss out on opportunities to broaden their skillsets.

Calling for change at Government level

Changes at a policy level will mean the potential of the LSG can be realised, by making it available to a wider range of people and tackling barriers to accessing training.

Through our extensive research, Totaljobs and The Work Foundation are calling on the Government to take the following actions:

• Review eligibility for the Lifetime Skills Guarantee to maximise access and participation among workers in routine or manual roles, recognising that some workers who already hold a level 3 qualification can benefit from access to further training.
• Offer support with indirect costs to people on low incomes taking part in training, such as childcare costs.
• Remove restrictions on time spent training for individuals receiving welfare benefits like Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support and Universal Credit.
• Create flexible training pathways, such as modular approaches or recorded online sessions.
• Advise and incentivise employers to encourage their workers to undertake training, such as by covering the indirect costs of training, for example staff cover.
• Collaborate with local authorities, industry bodies, providers and employers to establish training that aligns with the needs and demands of local economies and job opportunities.

Actions for employers

• Highlight the opportunities offered by the Government, and support staff in understanding what is relevant for them.
• Invest in longer-term learning for routine and manual workers. For example, workplace coaches and mentors can champion skills development internally that focuses on future needs, not just existing roles.
• Embrace flexibility and meet the needs of your team by allowing study leave, training during work hours and access to bite-size learning.
• Prioritise transferable skills as areas of focus for training, seeing the potential in people and their existing skillsets for internal moves within your business.

Alongside the above, employers must remain conscious that training and skills development isn’t a silver bullet when it comes to providing the UK workforce with more secure career pathways. In fact, our research found that groups who experience structural inequalities in the UK don’t necessarily see improvement in their career prospects off the back of training. Tackling wider inequalities in recruitment, development and progression goes beyond securing more accessible training schemes.

Download your need-to-know report

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Watch the webinar

On Thursday 19 November, Totaljobs CEO Jon Wilson was joined by Work Foundation’s Head of Research Melanie Wilkes to piece together the data and shed light on the challenge ahead. They were also joined by Director of Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, James Martin and Global Head of Attraction and Resourcing at bp, Victoria Hyland.

Watch the webinar below to get your fill of the analysis in under an hour.