A steady as she goes Budget on labour markets & skills, with a bit of extra £ so all Mayors in England can promote & broker apprenticeships & aim for 3% of jobs on infrastructure to be apprenticeships. Beyond that, bigger shifts punted to Milburn, Timms & spending review. 🧵
“It makes sense to take time to make the right long-term choices, but the clock is ticking.”
✍️ L&W chief exec @Stephen_EvansUK responds to the Autumn Budget 2026.
https://t.co/TJylczoLgN
This report estimates that an initial £900 million investment from the Exchequer could unlock £2.2bn of additional employer investment, supporting growth across the UK.
Read the full report: https://t.co/02obaVWV0Q 🔗
NEW: A new Skills Tax Credit could unlock £2.2bn of additional investment in skills. 🔓
Our new report commissioned by @enginuityorg recommends businesses receive a 20p tax credit for every £1 invested in eligible training.
https://t.co/02obaVWV0Q
Firms face a range of barriers to investing in training. 🚧
This is despite engineering and manufacturing employers polled for the research saying that spending more on training could bring benefits such as faster tech adoption, higher productivity and greater business revenues.
“We need to change the benefit system so it offers active help to all who need it, but also make it easier for employers to create jobs.”
✍️ L&W chief exec @Stephen_EvansUK responds to today’s labour market stats from @ONS.
https://t.co/1kMFfv4s4k
NEW: We are pleased to share our implementation and process evaluation findings from Year 1️⃣ of @CambsPboroCA’s Youth Guarantee Trailblazer. 🔍
https://t.co/91MYBnOwKt
The evaluation draws on experience from our wider Youth Guarantee for England programme of work. 💡
Find out more about the programme: https://t.co/aCyIBpZmEs 🔗
“The employment rate is relatively high by international standards, but risks trending in the wrong direction with 3.9m people not in work but saying they want a job.”
✍️ L&W chief exec @Stephen_EvansUK comments on today’s labour market stats from @ONS.
https://t.co/W21UrtbLrR
The briefing highlights that there is a need for Government and MSAs to step up their focus on essential skills outcomes for residents and rebalance skills spending priorities towards adults with the lowest levels of skills.
Read the briefing in full: https://t.co/DeTr1wHERY 🔗
This #InternationalLiteracyDay our new briefing looks at investment in English and maths over the first 5 years of Adult Skills Fund devolution.
It explores trends in investment in adult English and maths provision in England between 2019/20 and 2023/24.
https://t.co/DeTr1wHERY
Good essential skills, like literacy and numeracy, are vital for people’s job and career prospects, for access to health and other public services, and for everyday life.
Yet, according to the OECD, 8.5m adults in England have low skills in literacy and/or numeracy. 🔍
Read the full report: https://t.co/xbQ4O1gxlz
This is the final report of our multi-year programme for @NuffieldFound exploring employer investment in skills. 🔍
Find out more about the programme: https://t.co/CmLQzpc8Ce
NEW: UK must make training the go-to response to skills needs or risk holding back growth. 📣
Our report for @NuffieldFound shows the Govt’s plans for growth risk falling short unless it reverses sharp falls in employee training.
Read @FT coverage. ⬇️
https://t.co/aTSldV3U5C
L&W warns this pattern risks holding back growth, leaving both people and businesses less able to adapt.
The report calls on governments across the UK, employers and training providers to make training the ‘go-to’ response more often when a business identifies a skills need.