Functional skills within apprenticeships are one of the most talked about issues for DfE to consider and after much debate, the government has finally announced that functional skills will no longer be a requirement for apprentices over 19. While we await further details, it’s important that we bear in mind just how important functional skills are, not just for apprenticeships but for community and ‘growth’.
Employers need workers with strong literacy and numeracy skills for tasks like administration, communication, problem-solving and financial management. In an increasingly data driven world we need to understand what data is telling us but also be able to present it effectively and imaginatively. A skilled multi-faceted workforce boosts productivity and innovation, driving economic growth whilst low literacy and numeracy levels contribute to unemployment and lower wages for individuals with fewer chances for advancement.
Good literacy skills help individuals access and understand information, improving learning and societal outcomes, whilst numeracy is essential for managing finances, budgeting, and making informed decisions on credit, mortgages and student loans.
We know there are gaps in literacy and numeracy attainment that contribute to inequality across different groups. Education is the leveller in this, creating opportunities for personal and community advancement and affecting other areas of life such as positive health and actions.
Within our daily lives literacy is needed for reading medical instructions, legal documents, and public information. Numeracy helps us with understanding bills, calculating discounts, and managing time effectively. We know that poor literacy and numeracy can lead to financial struggles, health risks, and difficulty accessing services.
Studies show a strong link between low literacy levels and crime whilst improving literacy and numeracy can help prevent reoffending by offering the chance for education with a hope of leading to employment. The new prisons minister, James Timpson understands this, and Open Awards was pleased to advocate for apprenticeships beginning in prisons alongside education programmes focusing on functional skills to seek to rehabilitate offenders.
Within England 18 per cent of adults have “very poor literacy skills” and government data indicates 49 per cent have numeracy skills at or below primary school children. Whilst we’ve seen an increase in attainment of children, we still have a task ahead with adults, an issue that stubbornly continues and under the proposed reforms is unlikely to improve. Functional Skills with their practical approach play an important role in addressing this. More investment is needed to encourage their uptake within employers, communities and individuals.
Indeed, the 2004 Leitch review of skills recommended that 95 per cent of adults achieve functional literacy and numeracy, highlighting the shared responsibility among individuals, employers, and the government in achieving this.
Functional skills are crucial in improving literacy and numeracy because they provide practical, real-world applications of English and Maths, helping develop essential life and workplace skills. They help people read and understand bills, contracts, and medical information, manage finances, calculate budgets, and understand interest rates. Importantly they enable communications in work and social settings.
Functional skills qualifications focus on problem-solving and critical thinking rather than just academic knowledge and serve as an alternative to GCSEs, helping people who struggled with traditional exams gain qualifications. Key industries like healthcare, construction, and retail require strong literacy and numeracy for tasks like report writing, safety procedures, and financial transactions. They provide a second chance for those who didn’t achieve a pass in GCSEs. Importantly, universities and colleges accept them as equivalent to GCSEs for certain courses.
Functional skills qualifications allow individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds or with English as a second language to improve their prospects, promoting inclusivity, especially for those with learning difficulties or alternative learning styles. Improving confidence in people’s literacy and numeracy empowers them to engage more in society, whether in civic duties, parenting, or managing personal affairs.
Let’s celebrate functional skills for their breadth and practical applications – and focus on how they best support apprenticeships, education and employment.
This is a well-argued perspective. To understand this government decision, we must consider the broader context: years of lobbying from the AELP and related groups, alongside a government eager to address skills shortages in key sectors like healthcare and construction. Politically, there is a drive to show improved apprenticeship outcomes.
There are two ways to achieve this: either by enhancing support and funding for training providers to raise standards or by lowering the qualification criteria to increase pass rates. The latter benefits certain stakeholders financially, as more apprentices reaching the end-point assessment triggers the release of the final 20% funding allocation.
For training providers, this means increased revenue, while for the government, it helps bolster statistics to support broader policy goals. The actual impact on learners’ maths and English skills—and the wider UK economy—appears secondary. In this context, the decision makes political sense, even if it has left many confused or outraged.
Who would have thought it, a Labour Government dumbing down the workforce, thereby limiting future prospects and social mobility?
I don’t think anyone would disagree that numeracy and literacy are crucial in a successful workforce, but let’s put this into perspective. Individuals over the age of 19 who have the ability to take on, and be successful in an apprenticeship probably have the wherewithal to enhance their literacy and numeracy without it being mandated. Let’s treat adults like adults and get away from the ‘big school’ mentality of post compulsory education.
Apprenticeships can only truly be a success when they become agile and less bureaucratic for providers and learners. I realise that this comes as a blow to the cottage industry that has grown up around the Tory imposed red tape, disguised as ‘quality’.