Building a digitally confident and capable workforce is now non-negotiable.
Each year, basic digital skills gaps are costing the UK economy at least £12.8bn, and workers without these skills are missing out on an estimated £5.69bn in additional wages. At a time when inflation and cost-of-living are sky-high, this persistent basic digital skills gap is a real concern.
Whether collaborating with colleagues, accessing online payslips, protecting personal data, or just sending an email, very few of us can do our jobs without digital skills.
But the data shows c.8.6 million (22% of adults in the labour force) don’t meet the ‘minimum standard’ in Essential Digital Skills for Work. And many of those who do meet this standard are still unable to complete all 20 basic digital tasks for Work. This means that nearly 57% of working adults (almost 19 million people) could benefit from improving their digital skills.
Our goal at FutureDotNow is for all working aged adults to be equipped with the digital confidence and capability they need for a prosperous future. The key to this is more businesses training more people in the Essential Digital Skills.
Across this report, we summarise the progress that’s been made in the last 12 months, FutureDotNow’s key achievements and our plans for the future.
