We know that government is on a mission to achieve growth, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer going as far to say that it is their number one mission. 

For the UK to achieve economic growth, businesses need to thrive, and one of the things they need is to be able to hire staff with a strong foundation of transferable skills. This means having access to a rich talent pool of young people who are leaving education with the key employability skills that are vital across every sector in our economy. 

At Barclays we are in constant conversation with the businesses that we bank, and they are telling us accessing this talent pool is proving difficult. They are telling us that the challenge they are facing is that many young people are not leaving education ready for work. 

To help business, we need to get to a place where we can support the development of core, transferable employability skills of young people. This is vital, not only to see young people develop their aspirations and skills for their personal advancement, but also for the growth of our economy and businesses. And that is why I’m proud that Barclays LifeSkills has launched a new report, “Workforce ready: supporting young people with the employability skills that businesses need for growth.”

You can read the report, in full, here, but I’d like to set out the inspiration behind the record and why I believe its recommendations are crucial. 

In figures published last week, the UK now has 620,000 young people aged 16 to 24 who were unemployed in January to March of 2025, that’s 59,000 more than the previous year. It means that the unemployment rate for young people has gone up by full percentage point to 14.2 per cent, up from 13.2 per cent the year before. Those numbers are of concern to us, and, if we want to achieve economic growth, they need to come down sharply. 

We know the government is currently conducting reviews into skills and education policies and we know that the industrial strategy recognises the importance of people and skills in creating a pro-business environment. And, at Barclays, we feel well placed to deliver recommendations for how we improve the employability of young people. 

Helping people develop employability skills is part of our commitment to the communities in which we operate, and for the past 12 years, the Barclays LifeSkills programme has helped millions of young people to develop the core skills that businesses are looking for. As a result, we have seen what works, as well as seen the challenges that educators face when it comes to preparing young people for the workplace with these vital skills so that they are ready to move from education into the workplace. 

We believe that evolution in education policy is going to be vital. More needs to be done to support young people whilst they are in education to provide businesses with access to a wider pool of, work-ready employees, laying the foundation to help drive growth for businesses and the economy has a whole. 

With the government currently conducting reviews into education and skills policies and the industrial strategy also recognising the importance of people and skills in creating a pro-business environment in the UK, this report makes recommendations on the systemic, realistic and workable changes needed in national education and skills policy to change the way key employability skills are recognised and taught in schools.

It's a situation that needs addressing, because, as explored in “Workforce ready: supporting young people with the employability skills that businesses need for growth”, the status quo is serving neither employers nor young people. 

According to research from the Barclays Business Prosperity Index, which surveyed over 1,000 business leaders, a full 83 per cent of employers have said that difficulties around hiring skilled labour are negatively affecting their business’ ability to grow. Of those, 17 per cent highlighted a lack of availability of skills as one of the greatest barriers to growth for their business in the next year. 

To try and solve this challenge, 31 per cent of businesses have targeted engaging with wider talent pools, and, when asked what their top priority for investment across the next 12 months, increasing training and development of existing staff came out on top. While the latter is welcome, the findings are clear, business is struggling to hire and it’s holding them back. 

According to data from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a third of businesses (32 per cent) feel that 17–18-year-old school leavers are not prepared for the world of work. The figures for those leaving further education and graduates are starker at 43 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively.

Asked why, over three quarters of employers (77 per cent) cited a lack of work experience, and 60 per cent a lack of employability skills. 

Data from the 2024 Youth voice census, which surveyed over 5,000 11-18-year-olds, reported that only just over a third (34 per cent) felt that their school supported them to develop their employability skills. As well, only 39 per cent of young people in education demonstrate belief in their skills and only 36 per cent said that they felt they understood what the skills employers wanted them to have. 

As to why, a report from the Council of Skill Advisors highlighted the limitations of the current English secondary curriculum in preparing young people for employment, with the amount of content and the lack of explicit reference to skills frequently cited. 

So, we now have a situation where employers are struggling to recruit the staff they need, young people are leaving education feeling as if they lack the skills they need. For the economy to grow, for businesses to prosper, and to get the number of young people without work down, we need to have a fundamental rethink about our collective approach. 

 “Workforce ready: supporting young people with the employability skills that businesses need for growth” makes specific recommendations to government that we believe would improve the work-readiness of school leavers, with the aim of helping to accelerate the closing of the skills gap and support businesses in their quest for talent. Empowering individuals to develop their aspirations and skills is not only essential for their personal advancement, but also for the growth of our economy and businesses. 

With this in mind, and to effect the necessary change to improve the employability skills and potential of young people, we have set out five recommendations for government: 

1. Skills England should consult openly with employers and relevant organisations in the development of the standardised skills taxonomy and ensure that business needs and comprehensive definitions of employability skills are adequately reflected.  

2. Through the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the Government should explicitly introduce employability skills within each relevant curriculum area across Key Stages 3 to 5, aligned to the taxonomy created by Skills England. Multiple opportunities should be provided to students to recognise, practise, and demonstrate these skills and provide context as to why these skills are vital for their futures and careers. 

3. The new Ofsted education inspection framework should have an explicit focus on work readiness and employability skills development when assessing an institution’s provision and its capability to support young people’s personal development, paying particular attention to support for disadvantaged learners. 

4. The government should use the review of the education leadership National Professional Qualification frameworks as an opportunity to help aspiring and existing education leaders learn how to create a whole school focus on developing young people’s employability skills while also providing a framework to support young people who are disadvantaged. 

5. Include employability skills within the definition of educational outcomes as part of the guidance on pupil premium funding, with the aim to ensure that disadvantaged young people are appropriately supported. 

Barclays’ Group Policy Development team creates public policy thought leadership content on behalf of Barclays. Our work draws on the bank’s expertise, data and insights, and is intended to inform the design and application of public policy solutions in response to pressing economic and societal challenges.