The TUC has launched a new skills initiative bringing together unions, employers, and education providers to tackle Britain's deepening skills crisis.

The union body says the crisis has been caused by years of underinvestment by government, falling investment by employers, a failure to listen to workers, and a skills system struggling to keep pace with rapid technological change.

The new initiative — the 2050 Skills Project — will co-design a long-term, worker-centred skills strategy to equip the workforce for the jobs of the future and support sustainable economic growth.

The TUC will convene stakeholders from across the skills system, including unions, employer bodies Make UK and the British Chambers of Commerce, and the Association of Colleges. It is also launching a call for evidence to ensure the project is grounded in the real experiences of working people, the needs of business, and the views of those delivering and shaping skills on the ground.

The TUC said Britain is at a "pivotal moment" and must urgently prepare the workforce for a rapidly changing labour market.
Scale of the challenge

The TUC warns that years of underinvestment in adult education and training have left millions without the skills needed to succeed at work. Public spending on adult skills in England remains around 30% below its early-2000s peak, while funding for classroom-based adult learning has fallen by around two-thirds. Nearly three in ten further education colleges are now in deficit.

Regional inequalities are widening too: 27% of adults in the West Midlands have below GCSE-level qualifications, compared with just 9% in West London. Nationally, almost nine million adults lack essential literacy, numeracy and digital skills — even as demand for skills rises rapidly, with jobs key to delivering the Industrial Strategy projected to grow by almost 25%, equivalent to 1.8 million additional roles over the next decade.

The rollout of AI is intensifying the pressure, with two-thirds (67%) of employers saying workforce technical skills are now a major barrier.

Government action "not enough"

The TUC acknowledges the government has taken steps to respond, including its Industrial Strategy, the creation of Skills England, apprenticeship reforms, the Millburn Review on youth inactivity, and the AI Skills Boost pledge.

But it warns that a million young people remain not in education, employment or training, while apprenticeship starts among 16 to 24-year-olds have fallen by 40% over the past decade — a drop of more than 113,000 compared with 2015/16. More than half of apprenticeships now go to over-25s, many of them existing employees.

UK employers invest around half the EU average in training, and graduates are three times more likely to receive in-work training than non-graduates.

Public backing

New TUC polling of more than 4,000 people in May 2026 local election areas, published alongside the launch, shows seven in ten people (70%) support a legal right to lifelong training, with backing cutting across age groups and political parties.

The 2050 Skills Project aims to develop a strategy that empowers workers to access training throughout their lives, helps businesses adapt to economic and technological change, supports long-term productivity and growth, and lays the foundations for a new tripartite-led skills system.

Reaction

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said Britain was being held back by a persistent skills crisis, arguing the problem was not a lack of talent but years of underinvestment. While welcoming government moves such as the Youth Guarantee and the creation of Skills England, he said the country needed to "go further and faster" to equip workers for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

Kate Shoesmith, Director of Policy and Insights at the British Chambers of Commerce, said more than half of businesses were facing skills shortages, calling it a serious drag on productivity and growth.

Rt Hon. Robert Halfon of Make UK said manufacturing alone had 51,000 unfilled vacancies, with skills shortages costing the sector billions in lost output.

David Hughes, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, said the UK was facing a critical skills crisis rooted in underfunded adult education, and called on the new prime minister to act, backed by a long-term government strategy involving employers, colleges and unions.