Vocational education and training in the UK: Strategies to overcome skill gaps in the workforce

This paper presents an overview of recent literature concerning skill gaps and vocational training in the UK. There is considerable employer influence in the market-led UK training system and the government typically encourages employer-funded training via policy and through the institutional and qualification frameworks. This approach is in contrast to much of the training policy across Europe. Employers in the UK train for a variety of reasons, primarily led by business needs. There are distinct patterns of who receives employer-funded training, and how intensive any training received is. This is linked to the prioritisation of the training, within a limited budget, to best meet business needs and which is likely to lead to the largest return on investment via benefits such as increased productivity. The UK training system faces a number of challenges in the future, including an ageing workforce, trying to increase the take-up and quality of vocational training and breaking the low skills, low quality cycle resulting from businesses competing on cost.