'An Hour to Skill' campaign launched by Government and supported by business to boost job prospects
'An Hour to Skill' is a new campaign which aims to boost the nation’s skills and job prospects by inspiring people to set aside just one hour a week for online learning by taking a free course from The Skills Toolkit. These high-quality, online courses aim to further develop skills that employers are looking for, such as communicating effectively at work and practical maths, as well as boosting digital skills or building a professional online presence.
The courses have been selected on the advice of experts and leading employers, including techUK, to make sure they meet the needs of business. techUK members such as Accenture, AWS, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and partner Institute of Coding have been showcased, and since launching in April last year, there have already been more than 130,000 registrations for courses via the online platform featuring more than 70 courses. These techUK members are amongst the organisations joining forces with the Government to call on the nation to dedicate just one hour a week to online learning.
techUK has found within our Nations and Regions work that building 21st century skills for an inclusive workforce is essential to tackle the immediate challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Closing the Local Digital Capital gap would transform the UK, boosting economic output by as much as £145 billion and creating 2.7 million new jobs in the process, our regional reports show, and research shows that people who undertake further online learning can earn around £3,640 extra each year. The benefits go beyond money, with more than three quarters of online learners reporting improved mental wellbeing.
We welcome Government taking an active role in signposting and motivating the public to take advantage of the digital skills training industry offers--techUK has long advocated for a move in this direction. We have previously called for establishing a digital learning pathway because we believe that everyone should be able to access resources to improve their skills and retrain at any age and at all skill levels.
The period of lockdown that the country is now slowly emerging out of has also highlighted the importance of digital inclusion in building an equitable and prosperous economy and society—techUK looks forward to seeing such proposals in the upcoming Budget.
Encourage your team to take ‘An Hour to Skill’ by starting a free online course via The Skills Toolkit. Visit: gov.uk/theskillstoolkit for more details.
Authors
Nimmi Patel
Nimmi works on all things skills, education, and future of work policy, focusing on upskilling and retraining. Nimmi is also an Advisory Board member of Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (digit). The Centre research aims to increase understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers and governments.