By Liz Williams MBE, Chief Executive, FutureDotNow – June 2025
The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, released by government this week, sets out a bold vision for growth, innovation, and national renewal. At FutureDotNow, we welcome the renewed focus on digital and technology as engines of economic transformation. But success hinges on the strategy’s ability to deliver for people.
Top of that list is the need to ensure workers are future-fit, equipped with the skills and confidence, particularly digital skills, to thrive and keep thriving in the fast-moving digital economy.
The strategy makes clear the scale of ambition. The dedicated digital and technologies sector plan, the emphasis on AI and data skills, and the commitment to aligning skills provision with future growth priorities all resonate strongly with FutureDotNow’s mission to close the essential digital skills gap in the UK workforce.
But the strategy also lays bare the scale of the challenge. It acknowledges that the current skills system is not working for everyone. Participation in adult further education has declined. Employer investment in training has fallen. And too many workers remain trapped in insecure, low-quality jobs without the opportunity to upskill or retrain. Precisely the “hidden middle” that FutureDotNow exists to serve.
The government is right. Digital skills are foundational – for tech adoption, and for productivity, innovation, and economic resilience. The proposed Growth and Skills Levy, the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, and the development of skills passports are steps in the right direction. But they must be designed with the realities of digital competence in mind.
Current levels of core digital capability in the workforce are wildly over-estimated. Every year the Lloyds Bank Consumer Digital Index reports on levels of essential digital skills for work and the figures are depressingly stubborn.
52% of the UK labour force (21 million people) are missing digital essentials such as online safety basics and skills to use common productivity tools[1]. And that’s changed just two percentage points year on year! This needs to act as a real wake up call for urgent action to train people on the digital basics. As the industrial strategy makes clear these are THE foundation skills for the future.
Immediate action is needed to prepare us all so we can adapt and skill up and keep reskilling as we lean into a world of work reshaped by AI and automation.
And we need to get specific. Digital and digital skills are huge territories. Ensuring working age adults are future-fit starts with the digital basics in the Essential Digital Skills Framework. The evidence shows people do not build these skills organically. Systematic, cross-sector investment and action is needed. And the economic data shows there is a significant prize just waiting, for the UK, for individual businesses, and each of us personally, if we have these skills.
FutureDotNow has a clear plan for action to help people build these skills. We have more than a plan, we are taking action. Our community is already strong – hundreds of employers of all shapes and sizes, educators, and civil society partners. If building a digitally literate, AI-savvy workforce ready to seize the opportunities of the future matters to you, start with signing the Workforce Digital Skills Charter – a rallying call for action and a commitment to be part of the change.
Together we can build a digitally confident workforce – and a more inclusive, resilient economy for all. Come join us.
