The country faces a major challenge in ensuring it has a sufficiently skilled workforce, according to this National Audit Office (NAO) report, which says that participation in government-funded further education and skills training has declined significantly, particularly in disadvantaged areas.
Having a skilled workforce is critical to the country's economic success and to achieving other government aims, such as levelling up. The DfE estimates that it spent £3.9 billion on adult education, apprenticeships and other skills programmes in 2021-22.
Economic and societal changes are making the skills challenge more acute. The number of adult learners fell from 3.2 million in 2010/11 to 1.6 million in 2020/21, a decrease of 48%.
From 2015/16 to 2020/21, the number of participants aged 19 and over in England's 20% most disadvantaged areas dropped by 39%, compared with a 29% drop overall. Largely because of the drop in learners, there was a 46% fall in the Skills Index - the government's measure of the impact of the further education system on productivity - from 2012/13 to 2020/21.
In 2019, employers across England, Northern Ireland and Wales reported that 24% of vacancies were due to a lack of the required skills, qualifications or experience among applicants.