Amount spent by Welsh employers on training drops

THE amount spent by Welsh employers on training their workforce has gone down, according to a report from the UK Government’s Social Mobility Commission.

It states: “In Scotland, total employer spend on training [between 2011 and 2015] increased by 24% and the amount per employee rose by 20%.

“In England, total employer skills training expenditure fell by 2% while spend by employee remained static.

“In Wales and Northern Ireland, however, both these amounts fell, and by larger amounts than in England.”

The report – titled The adult skills gap: is falling investment in UK adults stalling social mobility? – raises concerns applicable to the UK as a whole about the fact that adult training is often only available for workers who are already highly paid or highly skilled.

It says: “The poorest adults with the lowest qualifications are the least likely to access adult training – despite being the group who would benefit most. Men in routine and manual occupations are the least likely to learn new skills.

“About 30% of those employed in managerial and professional occupations participated in training in the last three months compared to 18% in routine and manual jobs. This follows earlier research showing that half (49%) of adults from the lowest socioeconomic group receive no training at all after leaving school.

“In contrast, high-skilled workers tend to benefit from ‘a virtuous circle’ of frequent in-work training and pay increases,” says the research carried out by the Institute for Employment Research, Warwick University. “Professional or managerial workers are twice as likely to be sent on courses as other workers, while graduates are three times as likely to access training as those with no qualifications.

“An individual’s background also has an impact. Workers whose parents came from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to benefit from adult training – which can impact on social mobility. Employees from more privileged backgrounds are more likely than other low-skilled workers to take advantage of in-work learning to rise up the ranks.”

Dame Martina Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said: “Too many employers are wasting the potential of their employees by not offering training or progression routes to their low and mid-skilled workers.

“Both employers and the government need to act to address this problem. They should start by increasing their investment in training, to bring it closer to that of international competitors, and prioritise this to those with low or no skills. Doing this would benefit both business and the economy as a whole.”

The report concludes that the UK lags behind other countries in giving adults a second chance to learn new skills and achieve their potential – spending just twothirds of the European average on adult training, and investment is in decline. Between 2010 to 2011, and 2015 to 2016 government funding for adult skills fell by 34% in real terms.

A spokesman for the Welsh Government pointed out that a table in the report showed that the percentage of people who participated in training in Wales remains higher than in other parts of the UK: 24.1% in Wales, in comparison with 23.6% in England, 21.1% in Scotland and 16.5% in Northern Ireland.

“The report makes clear that a higher percentage of the workforce in Wales participates in training than in any other parts of the UK,” the spokesman said.