The UK's Digital Skills Gap

The misunderstanding of digital skills

How can we close the skills gap, when we all think about digital skills differently?

Our research, among thousands of business leaders, knowledge workers and hiring managers, shows that a third of UK workers see digital skills as “the ability to fix IT issues,” whilst half believe digital means coding, programming and building websites.

In truth: technical skills won’t fuel a digital future - people will. As a nation, we need to focus on the human digital skills: nurturing capabilities like critical thinking, emotional intelligence, creativity and teamwork.

paramjit uppal | ceo and founder of AND digital

"Digital skills is so much more than just technical skills. It also includes professional skills like product management and delivery, and human skills like empathy, creativity and teaming."

Key Findings

Just a snippet of the challenge we face in the UK

Economic impact £50bn a year is at risk, as a result of businesses only focusing on the “hard” digital skills
understanding gap 35% of employees believe digital skills means "fixing IT issues"
skills gap 27% of employees feel they lack sufficient digital skills for their job role
upskilling gap 58% of knowledge workers have never received digital upskilling from their employer
progression gap 29% of respondents say their lack of digital skills has limited pay, promotions and career progression

Understanding the gap

The Digital Skills
Gap, Illustrated

The digital skills gap goes far beyond coding. Quickly read the key findings of our research to see the bigger picture, and spread the word by sharing on your social feed, email or blog. With greater awareness, we can close the skills gap together.

Understanding the gap

The Whitepaper

Here at AND Digital, we’ve made it our mission to close the world’s digital skills gap; starting in the UK.

To do this, we need to deliver widespread clarity on the state of digital skills, which is why we’re making this high value research free to download.

With a shared understanding, together we can close the skills gap and drive economic growth in the UK.