I said two things, perhaps permit me a third. This is an increasing demographic imperative with an aging population, future reductions in young people, & lower net migration. So need to tackle to avoid serious supply constraints. Lots of good things happening, but need to up scale & pace...
I agree (and we've argued similarly). Two things I'd add. 1st is the evidence base isn't great - we need to add to that & spread what works. 2nd is only 1 in 10 out-of-work disabled people get employment support each year - we need to actually offer help! And help employers adapt too.
#AI may be boosting firm-level #productivity, but at the moment, UK employment is declining in sectors with the least AI exposure. See also here: open.substack.com/pub/teraalla... #dataisbeautiful
Chart showing weekly real-terms value of various benefits: UK
This year’s Universal Credit uplift means that the basic rate of unemployment benefits will go up by more than inflation for the first time since 1983.
But the real-terms value of unemployment benefit is still 5% lower than in 2010-11. By contrast, State Pension rose by 20% over the same period.
Dr Susan Pember, CBE, Holex, Stephen Evans, Learning and Work Institute and Rt Hon Robert Halfon, Executive Director, Make UK share their views on ‘Stepping Stone or Stumbling Block: Rethinking level 2 English and Maths pathways’
Agree, a good chart & shows the difficulties of comparisons over time. Good news, though, we've found the easiest way to get the benefit bill down...
The index of consumer sentiment isn't broken; models that try to predict it just don't have the right input variables. I fix that and find that, yes, high nominal price levels explain why the vibes are so off. It's the prices, stupid
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-14...
Are resident doctors still underpaid?
The BMA’s case for industrial action is undermined by the way the union uses data.
1/6
www.thetimes.com/article/895f...
Super interesting piece from the @financialtimes.com team as ever - cutting through some of the blather & bluster.
‘The absolute friend is the truth’: inside Byron Nicolaides’ reckoning over City & Guilds feweek.co.uk/the-absolute-friend-is-t...
Thank you to our friends @workfoundation.bsky.social for highlighting this research. More to come on this topic from the @learnworkuk.bsky.social team...
Chart showing weekly real-terms value of various benefits: UK
This year’s Universal Credit uplift means that the basic rate of unemployment benefits will go up by more than inflation for the first time since 1983.
But the real-terms value of unemployment benefit is still 5% lower than in 2010-11. By contrast, State Pension rose by 20% over the same period.
Agreed!
See my 2nd post. Ultimately Govt's decided to prioritise YP. In a fixed budget (I'd argue for more £!) that means trade offs. I agree this clashes with what employers have been told before 'our money to spend as we wish on apps'. I'm not sure apps are always the answer tho, could be shorter courses.
Issue here is employers feel (& have been told) this is their money, now facing restrictions because limited pot & Govt wants to target. Plus leadership & mgt is a real issue, but answer not always an apprenticeship. Add to that tough economy which means not lots of spare employer cash. = problem.
Great news - employers can pay for these management apprenticeships if they want to, the levy is a minimum not a maximum. Or they can pay for shorter training if it’s beneficial. It’s in their business interests to have great leaders. (On a quick look c90% of team leader apprentices are aged 25+).
🚨 Two top City & Guilds execs will legally challenge their dismissal from their roles, FE Week can reveal
feweek.co.uk/city-guilds-execs-to-lau...
Sign in a garden centre that says ‘We are a little distressed, but full of promise.’
Same. (Or, at least, half right).
2. Eagle eyed will note participation has dropped more than achievements. I'd expect achievements to drop with a lag in 2nd half of year (rather than this being an improvement in achievement rates) but we'll see.
New data for 1st half of 25-26 shows 15% drop in adults doing English & maths in FE, due to Govt dropping it in apprenticeships. Achievements have halved since 2010. Reminder: 9m adults in England have low literacy or numeracy. Current trends, 25 years+ to help all. Harms inclusion & productivity.
In spite of all the talk of Claude Code and Codex meaning the end of humans writing code, software job adverts are actually going up, according to @jburnmurdoch.ft.com's crunching of millions of job ads for this week's The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/7325...
Great news: 1.3 million people have been lifted out of poverty this morning! All thanks to a change in the statistics.
After changing how income data is gathered, the DWP now believes it was over-estimating 'low income' levels by at least a million people in recent years, including 400k children.
useful Substack identifying the UK productivity problem as more on the side of demand for innovation than supply of it open.substack.com/pub/jundu1/p...
2. All tallies with our previous proposals which are similar to some later Govt proposals. learningandwork.org.uk/the-benefit-...
Updated DWP evidence on impact of offering extra Work Coach support to people on UC Health. Summary: small +ve impact for low cost intervention for large group. Shorter summary: offering help to those that want it makes a difference, worth doing, doesn’t solve everything.
My column this week: on how pensioners hold up our civic life (and why Gen X pensioners won’t be able to easily replace them)
At risk of overextending the data. Here's the pp change in a year in unemployment rates by sector last worked in. Basically, biggest rises are those who previously worked in professional roles, transport & storage, hospitality, construction & manufacturing.
One thing I didn't mention earlier. While employment's fairly flat overall, most of the growth is in more public sector areas like health & social care. More private sector areas like retail, hospitality & manufacturing have been falling. Another warning sign. Full briefing below.
Interesting today programme piece on regional inequality - but I worry we are still fighting old battles
Spatial inequality basically flatlining, the problem is growth - still talking about London as some sort of high growth city makes us complacent
