TUC General Secretary John Monks has stated that workers’ lack of basic skills are costing the UK £10bn a year in lost productivity and that government should help employers provide training. "One in three British workers do not have basic qualifications and one in five have problems with basic literacy and numeracy. This lack of basic skills costs our economy £10bn a year in lost productivity. There are two major barriers for these workers to get trained - time and money. It is a classic case of market failure. That is why we and the CBI asked the Chancellor for government incentives to assist employers with the costs of providing paid training leave for low qualified employees and meeting the cost of tuition. The Budget means that the scheme can be piloted in 6 local Learning and Skills Councils to test the best way of encouraging employers to provide training.We need these pilots to work and we need a national scheme up and running as soon as possible. Otherwise we will continue to fall behind."
The percentage of the workforce with at least level 2 qualifications in the UK is 54%, in France it is 71% and in Germany it is 82%. According to the TUC's figures, since 1997 the percentage of employees in the UK receiving off-the-job training has fallen from 41% to 28%.
The 6 local Learning and Skills Councils pilots are in Wiltshire and Swindon, Greater Manchester, Birmingham and Solihull, Tyne and Wear, Derbyshire, Essex.
