The Conservative government should use the £600 million a year National Skills Fund to level-up the skills of adults aged 24 and over wherever they live, according to a new report.
Making a Success of the National Skills Fund, published by the NCFE and Campaign for Learning today, is a collection of articles written by experts across the post-16 education sector. It says longer working lives and automation will impact on adults of all ages across England.
The National Skills Fund, a 2019 Conservative general election manifesto pledge, is due to be introduced in 2021 and provide £3 billion over five years towards retraining and upskilling of the adult workforce. In December, that promise was renewed in the Queen's Speech.
According to the experts in today's report, devolution, the National Retraining Scheme and the post-18 review of education and funding need to be seriously considered when developing the fund.
Together, the experts argue that the National Skills Fund must be used to level-up adults’ skills and highlight major challenges the policy faces.
Background: The Conservative government’s plans for FE
Opinion: Why further education needs a 2020 vision
Need to know: Conservative manifesto: £3bn for ‘national skills fund’
Distribution of funding
The report says that the government must consider how funding for the Skills Fund will be distributed. Some of the experts call for the NSF to be devolved to elected mayors and local enterprise partnerships. Others call for the NSF to be combined with the adult education budget and allow providers to compete for funds.
The experts call for the National Retraining Scheme to be retained, with a number of them highlighting its focus on the sector, rather than an employer or a geographical area. The report argues that the new skills-based immigration policy adds to the case for retraining and expanding a sector-focused National Retraining Scheme.
The report stresses that the challenge of creating a retraining revolution goes beyond free provision.
Michael Lemin, policy and research manager at NCFE, said it was time to ensure the foundations were in place to address the modern-day challenges facing the workforce.
He said: “NCFE has always been committed to helping promote and advance learning for learners of all ages and from all walks of life. It is our belief that every adult – whether 24 or 64 – should have the same opportunities to train and retrain that are given to young people in full-time education.
“Longer working lives, automation and flexible labour markets are going to have a huge impact on our economy which is why need to do everything we can now to ensure that the foundations are in place, through the National Skills Fund and other measures, to address challenges as they arise and equip our workforce with the skills they need for success in an ever-changing market.”
The full list of contributors
Stephen Evans, Learning and Work Institute
Tom Bewick, Federation of Awarding Bodies
Mark Dawe, Association of Employment and Learning Providers
Ewart Keep, University of Oxford
Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Combined Authority
Gemma Gathercole, Coventry and Warwickshire LEP
David Hughes, Association of Colleges
Simon Parkinson, Workers’ Education Association
Kim Chaplain, Centre for Ageing Better
Greg Wade, Universities UK
Andy Westwood, University of Manchester
Mark Corney, policy consultant
