Ashok Kumar Fellowship 2023/24
Applications are now open for the 2023/24 Ashok Kumar Fellowship Scheme.

This POSTnote provides an overview of adult upskilling and retraining in the UK. It outlines the national context around adult education, including issues around supply and demand of skills as well as funding and participation rates. It also discusses the key outcomes and impacts of adult learning. This briefing focuses on 19+ adult learning and excludes university education.
Upskilling and retraining the adult workforce (513 KB , PDF)
The UK Government’s Employer Skills Survey (ESS), which in 2019 was undertaken by 81,000 employers in the UK (excluding Scotland), grouped skills into ‘technical and practical skills’ and ‘people and personal skills’. Technical and practical skills include specific knowledge needed to perform a role, while people and personal skills include time management, task prioritisation and teamworking. Upskilling refers to the improvement of an individual’s skillset while retraining refers to developing skills to enable a change in an individual’s role.
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer-reviewed. POST would like to thank interviewees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:
Members of the POST Board*
Tera Allas (McKinsey & Company)
Chris Butcher (Workers’ Educational Association)
Dr Jonathan Cribb (The Institute for Fiscal Studies)
Helen Chicot (Rochdale Borough Council)
Department for Education*
Stephen Evans (The Learning & Work Institute)*
Katherine Emms (The Edge Foundation)*
Professor Alison Fuller (University College London)*
Julian Gravatt (Association of Colleges)*
Professor Anne Green (University of Birmingham)*
Professor Irena Grugulis (University of Leeds)*
Dr Kathleen Henehan (The Resolution Foundation)*
Professor John Holford (University of Nottingham)*
Professor Ewart Keep (University of Oxford)*
Cheryl Lloyd (The Nuffield Foundation)
Dr Daria Luchinskaya (University of Strathclyde)*
Professor Sandra McNally (University of Surrey)*
Dr Susan Pember (HOLEX)*
Professor Tom Schuller
Dr Cath Sleeman (Nesta)*
Daniel Sandford Smith (The Gatsby Foundation)*
Louis Trupia-Melluish (The Open University)
Professor Sir Alan Tuckett (University of Wolverhampton)
Elena Wilson (The Edge Foundation)*
* denotes individuals and organisations that acted as external reviews for this briefing.
Upskilling and retraining the adult workforce (513 KB , PDF)
Applications are now open for the 2023/24 Ashok Kumar Fellowship Scheme.
Applications are open for the 2023/2024 Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) POST Westminster Fellowship scheme. Open to RSC members who are undertaking or have recently finished their PhD studies. Apply by 12 June 2023.
Technology and data enabled opportunities are key priorities in the Department for Transport’s Future of Freight Plan. This POSTnote reviews digital technologies that support freight, including their impact on the labour force, potential environmental benefits and technical barriers.