Responding to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's spending review 2025

Date:

11 06 2025

Authors:

Stephen Evans

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Responding to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's spending review, Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of Learning and Work Institute (L&W), said:
We welcome confirmation of previously announced rises in employment support for disabled people, which can make a real difference. We're also pleased to see the Chancellor highlight the importance of skills, and to see funding of extra 16-19 places to meet demographic demand. Yet there doesn’t appear to be much, if any, extra funding for adults to improve their skills. Whereas we know that when adults learn, our society and economy thrive. The Chancellor faces tough economic and fiscal conditions and is right to prioritise. That raises the importance of broader action to raise employer investment in training, and to better join up programmes so they have a bigger impact. 80% of our 2035 workforce have already left compulsory education, and skills funding in England has been cut by £1 billion since 2010. Details on the Growth and Skills Levy, and any plans to help employers reverse the 26% fall in their spending on training since 2005, will also need to wait for a skills strategy later this year.
These numbers also mask substantial inequalities within construction. Women account for only 10 per cent of starts in construction apprenticeships so far this year, compared to 51 per cent of apprenticeships overall. In addition, this year only 9 per cent of construction starts are by individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds, with particularly big disparities for apprentices from black or Asian backgrounds. The following years therefore present a unique opportunity to not only further boost apprenticeship numbers in the construction sector, but to expand their reach to wider groups. The new Government should work with employers and providers to seize this.

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