The Labour government, which has been in place for just over a year, is intent on shaking up the economy. The creation of a new body, Skills England, is just one part of its legislative programme.
Skills England has been given a clear goal – “to transform opportunities and drive growth… to bring together key partners to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions”.
And it’s needed because, as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said in October 2023, “The lack of a strong system for retraining and upskilling workers to operate effectively in the workplace and take advantage of changes in the economy and technology is one of the main contributors to the skills crisis.”
According to the Productivity Institute, the idea for Skills England isn’t new; it was first mooted in Autumn 2022 when a report by David Blunkett and the Council of Skills Advisers on skills in the UK was published.
As the institute commented: “The idea was for “Skills England [to] bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions, providing strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system aligned to the government’s Industrial Strategy.”
Time will tell if Skills England will bring proper change, but something needs to be done
The problem seems to be fragmentation in skills strategy caused by multiple organisations and regulators and various forms of funding and accountability.
Education News, commenting on the subject, said multiple overlapping funding streams, blurred responsibilities between national and local agencies, and frequent policy churn create uncertainty and discourage long-term investment. “Learners, employers, and providers alike struggle to navigate this complexity.”
The result is skills mismatches, which manifest in underskilling and overqualification for some. Too many people are in jobs that fail to fully utilise their skills and experience.
However, for Skills England to function, it needs to be able to link skills training to industrial strategy, local priorities, and the work of the Migration Advisory Committee, which determines the priority of workers given the right to work in the UK.
In practical terms, as a House of Commons Library report outlines, Skills England will take over the functions of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).
IfATE works with employers to develop, approve and review occupational standards; create and maintain occupational routes into occupations; oversee the technical qualification to
T Level; approve technical qualifications; and develop, review and approve apprenticeship standards.
Skills England will go further to look at where skills gaps exist. It will also oversee training through a new Growth and Skills Levy, which will replace the Apprenticeship Levy. The new levy will “allow employers to access a wider range of training with their funding. Under the [old] apprenticeship levy, employers [were] only able to spend their apprenticeship levy funding on apprenticeship training and assessment costs. Skills England will determine which training will be eligible for the expanded levy.”
But will all of this work?
The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) reckons that “Skills England will be in a battle for relevance from day one.”
A report from that institute, published at the end of March 2025, commented: “This government agency is likely to face an uphill struggle as it seeks to become a credible and respected organisation both within and outside government.”
It worries that “Skills England’s new CEO role occupies too junior a position within the Civil Service to have sufficient visibility and impact elsewhere in government”. It is also concerned the Department for Education has repeatedly talked about Skills England as an internal agency that will merely “inform” and “feed into” ministerial decisions about funding and policy changes. In other words, it may not have sufficient gravitas.
HEPI also highlights a range of contradictions related to Skills England – its national goal will clash with the government’s devolution agenda, which will be amplified when training funding is distributed along lines that don’t align with local needs.
Time will tell if the new body will bring proper change, but something needs to be done for the country and its businesses.
If Skills England can work with employers, unions and education and training providers, as well as local and national policymakers, and improve standards across the UK, it’ll be a welcome boost, but don’t hold your breath!