Skills England Report 2026

The annual Skills England report was issued yesterday. As always it made for interesting reading. Coming on the back of the Interim report from Alan Milburn about the parlous state of youth unemployment and education the stakes could not be higher or more urgent.

We think that in many cases there is a better way to assess skills, specifically by taking a more holistic approach. Our simple interactive idea generator (see below) shows the way forward.

Skills England identifies 13 Core Skills as foundational and transferable across jobs, and stresses that employers consistently value capabilities such as communication, problem solving, digital literacy, teamwork and adaptability. If the report is serious about foundation skills, the next step is to make them usable.