Britain trails behind other countries in digital skills

THE UK is lagging behind Estonia, South Korea and Sweden when it comes to digital skills, says a new report.

Barclays has carried out research to create a Digital Development Index, ranking 10 countries on their readiness to compete in the digital economy and worker confidence in their tech skills.

The results ranked Britain fourth, behind Estonia, South Korea and Sweden, but also revealed that Britain also trailed India, China and the US in terms of workers’ digital abilities.

Only 16 per cent of those asked in the UK were very comfortable building a website, compared to 39 per cent in Brazil and 37 per cent in India, the report found.

Barclays UK chief executive Ashok Vaswani said: “In the previous century, most of us had to cope with just one big shift in technology in our career or lifetime and we’ve been able to rely on our early education to get us through.

“But, now these changes are happening constantly though the evolution of the internet, smartphones, social media and the advent of new technologies like blockchain, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and open data.”

There were also suggestions that security risks could also be created by this lack of confidence and knowledge, with only 41 per cent of UK workers regularly changing important passwords, compared to 59 per cent in India. “This research shows Britons need to equip themselves with digital skills, whether to future-proof their career or keep personal data and devices safe,” said Mr Vaswani.

“Businesses also need to do much more to upskill each and every generation of their workforce; we need to create a new culture of lifelong learning.

“With the referendum sending a clear message that too many parts of the UK do not feel they are sharing in the promise of global prosperity, now is the time to take everyone forward together in the digital age.

“In schools and workplaces across the country, we need to build digital skills and confidence that will turn digital consumers into digital creators.”