Responding to the UK Government’s Spending Review 2025 Dr Kelly Vere MBE, Director of the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy said:
We welcome the government’s continued focus on skills development in the 2025 Spending Review. The funding committed to ensuring 1.3 million young people aged 16 to 19 can access high-quality training opportunities is a vital step.
We hope this investment will be directed towards expanding access to apprenticeships and T Levels, providing meaningful technical pathways for young people across the UK. At the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy, we are actively working to address skills shortages in the technical workforce and to promote wider adoption and access to T Levels and apprenticeships as essential entry routes into technical careers.
The additional £1.2 billion annual investment by 2028–29 is a welcome boost to these efforts. By supporting over 65,000 additional learners and investing in priority sectors like construction, this funding can play a crucial role in driving economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity.
We look forward to the government’s forthcoming strategy for post-16 education and skills later this year. It is essential that technical skills and careers are championed within this strategy and given the attention and resources needed to meet the UK’s technical skills shortages.
A strong technical skills pipeline is vital to sustaining and growing our research and innovation sector and to ensuring that young people across the country can access meaningful careers that support the UK’s future economy.
At UK ITSS, we champion the vital role of technicians in the UK’s research and innovation sector, and we welcome the increase in government budget allocated to research and development to £22.6 billion per year by 2029-30.
Technicians are the backbone of this ecosystem, providing essential skills and expertise that underpin the UK’s ambition to be a world leader in research and innovation. The Institute looks forward to supporting the UK government’s missions to break down barriers to opportunity and kickstart economic growth, by ensuring that technical skills and careers are visible, aspired to, and aligned with the needs of the
modern economy.