A study identifying international practice among employers and in public policy could help the UK increase employer investment in training, which has fallen by 30% per employee since 2011.
Learning and Work Institute (L&W) has published a series of case studies, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Spanning nine OECD countries ranging from Ireland to Singapore, these findings inform a broader programme of research exploring employer investment in skills, and how employees are responding to the need to upskill and retrain in a transitioning economy.
Shifts in the UK economy, including advances in technology and the transition to net zero, are impacting job types and skills demand. Employer investment in skills can enable businesses to adapt to changing circumstances and boost productivity. Yet the UK’s declining employer investment in training in recent years raises concerns about the country’s economic prospects and the impact on growth and readiness for economic changes.
Published today, nine case studies spanning OECD countries in Europe, North America, East Asia and Oceania offer valuable insights on effective mechanisms to drive up employer investment in training and transferable lessons for the UK. Across different countries, researchers have identified that success is most evident when policies are made and delivered in true partnership with stable, multi-year funding; employers are embedded as co-designers, supported by trusted intermediaries; equity and inclusion are integrated into governance, funding, and delivery; provision is modular and flexible, aligned to sectoral and regional needs; access for SMEs is simplified through consortia models and reduced bureaucracy; and strategic system integration is maintained to avoid duplication and policy drift.
L&W and the Universities of Strathclyde and Ulster are working together to explore how UK employers make decisions about training, and how employees are responding to the need to upskill and retrain in a transitioning economy. This is a multi-year project, due to be completed in May 2026.
Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of Learning and Work Institute, said:
“A step change in employer investment in training will prove crucial for reversing over a decade of decline in the UK’s adult skills base. But to deliver that we need to know more about how UK employers make decisions about training, the reasons for training, wider influences, and the employee and business level impacts of those decisions. These case studies equip us with insights of how our fellow OECD countries have dealt with similar challenges – and we look forward to building on this knowledge base over the course of our programme of work funded by the Nuffield Foundation.”
Emily Tanner, Programme Head – Post-14 Education and Skills, said:
“As noted in the Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper, increasing employer investment in skills is vital for enabling workers to thrive in the changing labour market and for improving economic productivity. This report provides new evidence on how that aspiration could be achieved by offering in-depth analysis of systems in other countries and how they apply to the UK.”
