Incidence of training and workforce development
Almost three-fifths (59%) of UK employers in 2024 had funded or arranged training over the previous 12 months for their employees. This is lower than the proportion in 2022 (60%), and in the 2011 to 2019 period (65% to 66%).
By nation, as in 2022, the proportion of employers providing training was highest in Scotland (63%) and lowest in Northern Ireland (56%). In each nation, there was no statistically significant change from 2022 to 2024 in the proportion of employers providing training. However, it was also the case that in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland the proportion of employers providing training in 2024 was at the lowest level in the ESS series, and in Wales it was at the lowest equal level (60%, unchanged from 2022).
By sector, employers in the Education (88%), Health and Social Work (83%) and Public Administration sectors (77%) were most likely to have provided training to staff in the last 12 months. This was also the case in 2022. However, the proportion of Public Administration employers providing training in 2024 (77%) had decreased compared with 2022 (87%).
Employers were least likely to have provided training in Primary Sector and Utilities (48%), Construction (50%) and Manufacturing (51%). In the first two of these sectors the proportion was similar to 2022 (47% and 52% respectively), but in Manufacturing the proportion of employers that provided training in 2024 was lower than in 2022 (54%). There was also a decrease in the proportion of employers providing training in 2024 compared with 2022 in Wholesale and Retail (53% from 55%). In Transport and Storage, there was an increase in the proportion of employers providing training in 2024 compared with 2022 (from 57% to 62%).
In 2024, the South East (62%) and the South West (60%) were the English regions where employers were most likely to be providing training to their employees. This was least likely in the West Midlands (55%) and East Midlands (57%).
Likelihood of training being provided to staff increased with site size; less than half (44%) of employers with 2 to 4 employees had provided training in the last 12 months, increasing sharply to 73% among employers with 5 to 24 employees, and reaching as high as 96% among those with 250 or more employees.
The survey captures two main types of training employers may provide:
- Off-the-job training: training beyond that which takes place on-the-job or as part of an individual’s normal work duties. This can be undertaken at an employer’s premises, at a provider, at home or elsewhere.
- On-the-job training: training undertaken at the individual’s work position and covering activities that would be recognised as training by staff, rather than learning by experience which can take place all the time.
Employers may provide one or both of these types of training.
In 2024, approaching half (48%) of UK employers had provided on-the-job training to their staff over the past 12 months. This was lower than the 49% figure in 2022, and continues a downward trend from 52% to 53% in the 2011 to 2017 period. The proportion of employers providing off-the-job training in 2024 (40%) was higher than in 2022 (39%) but still far lower than in the 2011 to 2017 period (when the proportion was in the 47% to 49% range).
Around one in five (19%) UK employers offered on-the-job training only, a decrease from 21% in 2022.
Proportion of staff trained
Employers in the UK had trained a total of 19.6 million staff over the previous 12 months, an increase from 18.2 million in 2022 and 17.9 million in 2017, and the highest the figure has been in the ESS series (Table 5‑1). The proportion of the workforce trained over the last 12 months was higher in 2024 (63%) than in 2022 (60%), but similar to the figures found from 2013 to 2017 (62%-63%), as shown in Figure 5‑3.
As shown in Figure 5‑4, the proportion of staff trained over the previous 12 months was highest in Wales (64%) and England (63%); a lower proportion of staff received training in Northern Ireland (61%) and Scotland (60%). The only statistically significant change in the proportion of staff trained compared with 2022 was the increase in England from 60% to 63% in 2024.
The highest proportion of staff receiving training was seen in Financial Services (82%), Education (81%), and Health and Social Work (80%), and the lowest proportion was seen in Manufacturing (48%), Construction (49%) and Wholesale and Retail (50%). In a number of sectors the proportion of staff trained over the last 12 months had increased compared with 2022. These increases were largest in Transport and Storage (62%, up from 50%), Primary Services and Utilities (54%, up from 46%), Arts and Other Services (62%, up from 55%) and Financial Services (82%, up from 75%). The reverse was true in Public Administration, where the proportion of staff trained in the previous 12 months was lower in 2024 (55%) than in 2022 (75%).
In terms of English region, staff in Yorkshire and The Humber (68%) and London (67%) were most likely to have received any training delivered by their employer in 2024, while those in the South West (56%) and the East of England (57%) were the least likely.
As in previous years, larger employers tended to train a greater proportion of their staff. Among sites with 2 to 4 employees, 37% of staff had received training in the previous 12 months, rising to 55% among sites with 5 to 24 employees and to 69% among those with 25 or more employees.
Types of training provided
The most common type of training provided by employers that had trained was job specific training (85%); this was consistent with 2022 (84%). Health and safety training was the next most common form of training provided (74%, up from 71% in 2022), as shown in Figure 5‑5. There were also increases in the proportion of training employers that had provided training in new technology (50%, up from 46% in 2022) and management training (34% from 32% in 2022).
As in previous waves of ESS, small sites with 2 to 4 staff were not only less likely to train than larger employers, but those that did train were less likely to provide each type of training. For example, only a fifth of employers in this category (21%) provided supervisory training in 2024.
Online or e-learning training
Seven in ten (70%) employers that provided training had funded or arranged online training or e-learning for their staff in the previous 12 months, up from 67% in 2022 and 51% in 2017. As shown in Figure 5‑6, mirroring previous years, the likelihood of training employers providing online training or e-learning was lowest in Northern Ireland (61%). Compared with 2022 there has been an increase in the proportion of training employers providing online training or e-learning in England (71%, up from 67%) and in Scotland (69%, up from 66%).
As in previous years, the proportion of training providers providing online training or e-learning varied widely by sector, from 48% among Primary Sector and Utilities employers (up from 43% in 2022, when it was also the sector least likely to provide this type of training), to 86% among Health and Social Work employers and 90% among Education sector employers. There were four sectors where training employers were more likely to have used online training or e-learning compared with 2022: Construction (60%, up from 53%), Wholesale and Retail (69%, up from 63%), Financial Services (83%, up from 78%), and Business Services (76%, up from 71%).
By English region, the West Midlands (75%), the North East (74%) and the East of England (also 74%) had the highest proportion of employers funding or arranging online training or e-learning for their staff, while the East Midlands had the lowest (62%).
Similar to previous years, the likelihood of providing online training or e-learning increased with site size, from 62% of sites with 2 to 4 employees that trained (up from 57% in 2022), to 92% of sites with 100 or more employees.
Training days
Employers had provided 111 million training days over the last 12 months, equivalent to 5.7 days per year per person trained (‘per trainee’), and 3.6 days per employee. By comparison, in 2022 108 million training days had been provided, equivalent to 6.0 days per trainee and 3.6 days per employee. The total number of training days in England (c.93.6 million) was 3.6% higher than in 2022 (c.90.3 million), while the figure in Scotland (c.9.0 million) was 6.7% lower than in 2022 (c.9.6 million).
When looking at English region in 2024, employers in London provided the highest number of training days (18.2 million) while those in the North East (3.5 million days) and the East Midlands (6.4 million days) provided the lowest.
By employer size, the most notable changes in total number of training days compared with 2022 were a decrease among those with 5 to 24 employees from 30.2 million days to 25.8 million (a decrease of 14.6%), and an increase among sites with 100 or more employees from 36.7 million to 43.4 million (an increase of 18.3%).
The number of training days per trainee was lower in 2024 (5.7 days) than in either 2022 (6.0 days) or 2017 (6.4 days). Training days per employee in 2024 was unchanged from 2022 (3.6 days), but lower than in 2017 (4.0 days).
By nation, training days per trainee in 2024 ranged from 5.6 days in England to 6.6 days in Wales. In Northern Ireland training days per trainee was unchanged from 2022 (5.8 days per year), but had decreased slightly in the other nations, with the decrease most pronounced in Scotland (from 6.7 days in 2022 to 6.0 days in 2024).
By English region, training days per trainee were highest in the East of England (7.2 days), South West (6.9 days) and North West (6.8 days). The regions with the lowest training days per trainee were Yorkshire and The Humber (4.8 days), the South East (4.9 days) and the East Midlands (also 4.9 days).
By size, it remained the case in 2024 that training days per trainee was highest in the smallest sites with 2 to 4 employees (8.2 days). Training days per trainee was lower in 2024 than in 2022 across all size bands except the largest employers with 100 or more employees (4.5 days vs. 4.3 days in 2022).
While training days per employee in 2024 was unchanged from 2022 across the UK (3.6 days) and England (3.5 days) or Wales (4.2 days), it was lower in Scotland (3.6 days from 3.9 days in 2022) and in Northern Ireland (3.5 days from 3.7 days). By size, training days per employee had decreased compared to 2022 for sites with fewer than 50 staff but had increased for those with 50 or more employees (see Table 5‑7).
By English region, the North West (4.3 days) and the East of England (4.1 days) had the highest number of training days per employee, while the East Midlands (3.0 days) and South East (3.2 days) had the lowest.