FutureDotNow is uniting business to tackle the gap in the digital capability and confidence of the UK workforce.
There is a fundamental digital skills gap at the heart of UK business and it’s hidden in plain sight.
Our leadership is creating the impetus for change. Our work is helping industry to make it happen. And our coalition is building a movement for collective action.
What is FutureDotNow?
We are a coalition of industry leaders working to ensure that all working age adults have the digital skills they need to benefit their own prosperity and UK productivity.
We’re coordinating industry action to equip people with the Essential Digital Skills they need to thrive in work and prepare for our digital future.
We’re helping businesses understand that a significant proportion of the workforce do not have the digital basics they need for the workplace. And we’re empowering them to take action.
What is the Essential Digital Skills gap?
23.4 million people of working age can’t complete all the digital tasks that government and business agree are essential for the workplace.
It’s easy to assume smartphones mean everyone is digitally confident. It’s easy to think all younger people are digital natives, and only older people can’t ‘do’ digital. But millions of people are trapped in a ‘hidden middle’ between digital exclusion and advanced digital skills.
What are the Essential Digital Skills?
Essential Digital Skills (EDS) are the range of abilities that government and industry agree everyone needs to safely benefit from, participate in and contribute to the digital world, both in life and at work.
An Essential Digital Skills Framework has been developed on behalf of the Department for Education in consultation with business, government, charites and academics. It outlines five key skill areas, providing examples of the digital tasks that people need for life and work.
Who we are
Our team and trustees
The FutureDotNow staff team come from across the public, private and commercial sectors, and includes individuals seconded from our board organisations. Their dedication and passion is at the very core of us achieving our ambition of digitally equipped UK workforce.
Our Strategic Partners
FutureDotNow is able to deliver on its mission of closing the workforce digital skills gap thanks to the the support of our strategic partners. Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, and these organisations are leading the way.
Our coalition
Our coalition is made up of hundreds of organisations. Through them we are building a self-sustaining community, where it’s easy for members to identify areas of common interest, to connect, collaborate and share more easily on the solutions that make the biggest impact to digital confidence and capability.