Britain’s workplaces are facing a skills crisis with more than one in three employers refusing to train their workers, despite government incentives to help them, this leaves nearly 8.5 million workers (8,377,200) without training according to the TUC in a new report entitled 2020 vision for skills (released today Monday 4 September). And of those who do receive training only 11.5 per cent receive a nationally recognised qualification.
The West Midlands have the worst record in the country with nearly 1 million (44 per cent or 998,800) of the region’s workforce not being trained. But the North East has the best record with 30 per cent (288,000) going without training. The improved position in the North East is attributed to the high trade union membership density in the region and the consequent higher number of union/employer training agreements that have been signed.
According to the TUC’s report Britain’s workplace skills crisis can be solved if employers and the Government must invest more in adult skills, provide statutory paid time off for workers to train, and give unions and workers a stronger voice in workplace skills bargaining. The report and its demands are targeted at the Treasury inspired review of skills needs for 2020, called for by Gordon Brown in his 2004 Budget, and conducted by the businessman Lord Leitch. The review’s findings are expected to be released in November.
Brendan Barber, TUC Secretary General said: Employers should stop complaining so much about the skills levels of their staff and spend more on training them. Despite many government incentives one in three employers are denying training to millions of workers who need it most. And the government must legislate to make sure that workers get paid time off to train. Britain’s unions are already working in partnership with large numbers of employers, through their army of 14,000 union learning representatives, to reskill their workforces. Government investment has helped this process and it must be increased.
Tackling the skills crisis as the TUC suggests will not only improve Britain’s productivity and competitiveness, but also address issues such as poverty and social mobility. To promote such issues of social justice the union body calls on the Government to work with partners through the Sector Skills Councils to tackle skills discrimination among women, black workers, disabled, and older workers.
The TUC’s report argues that much more attention has to be given to improving the skills of Britain’s current workforce, because 70 per cent of the country’s 2020 workforce have already completed their compulsory education. The report points out that six million working age people have severe problems with literacy. Many more have similar problems with numeracy. In the next 15 years some 20 million people will need higher skills levels than at present. And the report declares that such skills levels are essential if Britain is to close its productivity gap with France and Germany.
Unions are in a unique position to tackle the workplace skills shortage and have already made big strides in encouraging and supporting workers back into training and education. The TUC’s learning and skills project, unionlearn, together with trade unions, helped over 100,000 people to access courses last year by recruiting over 14,000 union learning reps. Unions aim to increase that figure to 22,000 by the end of the decade supporting over a quarter of a million learners.
Skills crisis with 8.5 million workers being denied training
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