Understanding the UK’s Digital Skills Gap Crisis

The digital skill gap costs the UK economy £63 billion a year in lost GDP.

60% of businesses believe they will increase their reliance on advanced digital skills over the next five years. Meanwhile, 88% of young people recognise that digital skills are going to be essential for their careers going forward.

Whether you’re thinking about switching jobs and are looking to improve your skills ahead of your job search, or a business with a desperate need to upskill your workforce – find out how you can bridge the UK’s digital skills gap.

What is contributing to the digital skills gap?

Education

Only 35% of computer science teachers in schools have a relevant degree, and 30% of the required number of computer science teachers have not been recruited research shows.

13% of computer graduates are still unemployed 6 months after leaving university.

It is believed that by the time a student reaches the third year of their degree, their first year studies are outdated. Many of the computer and digital-related degrees are simply not updated frequently enough to be relevant.

37% of UK businesses believe that the digital skills gap shortage stems from an absence of relevant educational programmes.

Tech Advancements  

In a Forbes survey, 93% of UK business leaders reported that they believe there is a gap in IT skills within the UK jobs market. A further 42% of these businesses believe that this is due to the fast pace of technological advancements.

AI, data analytics, and cloud computing are just some of the environments that are constantly changing, as well as the rules, regulations and legislation that are constantly being updated alongside these professions. Due to the acceleration of technological advancements, many are falling behind.

Lack of upskilling

People Management has reported that four in five UK employers say the lack of digital skills is harming their business, and resulting in the inability to achieve their strategic goals.

However, just 42% of managers told the Chartered Management Institute they were open to hiring people aged 50 to 64, compared with 74% happy to hire those aged 18 to 34. Despite age discrimination being illegal, the 50 to 64 age bracket is missing out on valuable upskilling and reskilling opportunities.

This is particularly important to consider, as by 2030  almost half of the workforce is expected to be made up of people aged 50+.

Cost

Many businesses are wary of the potential cost it could take to equip their employees with the relevant skills to bridge the digital skills gap.  This causes many leaders to delay taking action to reskill their current workforce.

Unfortunately, this is a lose-lose strategy for both the employer and employees – as the more this is delayed, the more the skills gap increases, and the more they have to catch up on later down the line – which is likely to be more expensive financially as well as from a time and resource perspective.

Lack of understanding

While business leaders are aware of the digital skills gap, many are unaware of where to begin when it comes to closing it. This combined with concerns over the cost of reskilling employees is causing many businesses to overlook the skills gap issue.

Salary

29% of businesses highlight salary differences as a factor in the IT skill gap. Salary variations in particular industries are pulling IT professionals into other sectors, which is leaving certain sectors with bigger skill gaps than others,

What issues is the digital skills gap causing?

A lack of basic IT skills

While many might consider ‘digital skills’ to be more advanced technical skills, approximately 5 million people cannot use an app, and around 4.5 million cannot turn on a device and enter login information by themselves. Around 2.4 million are not able to do a single one of these tasks at all according to a report from the UK Parliament.

Basic digital skills are more important than ever, particularly in light of hybrid and remote working. Ensuring employees can use the software that is required by the business in order to communicate with others and complete tasks is more important.

Threat of Cybercrime

The need for employees to be able to spot digital scams is more important than ever, with an increase in online scams and cybercrimes happening.

In 2023 over 126 people reported losing £977,581 to online recruitment-related scams, which primarily took place on WhatsApp.

Other popular scams related to the workplace include phishing scams, where scammers use an email address that might make it look like someone else you know in your workplace. Scammers will try to pose as someone trustworthy to gain sensitive information about you or the business you work for.

Employees need to be equipped with an appropriate level of digital skills in order to identify scams and protect themselves and the business that they’re working for.

Employee Shortages

Over the last several years, many businesses have struggled to recruit for tech roles across the UK.

Due to the digital skills gap, there are often not enough skilled candidates to fill IT or other roles that require a particular digital skillset.

While this is great for candidates with the right digital skills as they are highly desired, many businesses are left with large gaps which can cause company-wide issues.

What are some of the most in-demand specialised digital skills predicted to be?

AI 

As AI Specialists are predicted to be one of the most in demand vacancies in 2025, with research showing 75% of business Chairpeople and 71% of business partners believing that skills in AI hold the most significant value in today’s job market.  

Looking to get started with improving your AI skills? See our Simplified guide to AI Prompting

Cyber Security

Cyber Security is expected to be the next most significant in demand IT job after AI currently.

In 2023, GOV UK reported that 50% of all UK businesses have a basic  skills gap, while 33% have an advanced cyber security skills gap. These figures were also similar to 2022 and 2021.

There were 160,035 cyber security job postings in the last year. This is an increase of 30% on the previous year. 37% of vacancies were reported as hard to fill (down from 44% in 2022, but the same as in 2021).

IT Support and Trouble Shooting

IT Support and Trouble Shooting is an in demand skill for 2025. As technology evolves rapidly, introducing new software, hardware, and systems is inevitable. This requires specialised knowledge.

IT support professionals are needed to help users adapt to these changes, ensuring that new systems are implemented smoothly and effectively.

What is the solution?

Education

A great alternative to the typical University route is completing an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships can provide people with the chance to learn on the job and get real-life work experience alongside their education.

Apprenticeships aren’t just for school leavers; they can be a great choice for people who are looking to reskill at any point during their careers.

However, apprenticeships on their own are not enough to address the digital skills gap.

Onboarding

A negative onboarding experience can double the likelihood of an employee leaving a business shortly after joining.

There can be many variations in software used in businesses, whether you communicate via email, by phone, or by instant messaging such as Slack or Teams.

For example, someone who has come from an environment where  Microsoft Office was used, might need some time to get used to a company that primarily operates using Google Workspace.

Whether you’re using multiple different video calling systems it’s Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet – it’s important to provide new employees with appropriate training tailored to their needs during the onboarding process.

Training

Businesses need to place more emphasis on reskilling and upskilling the workforce to equip them with the relevant digital skills.

There should be a special focus on reskilling the 50+ workforce, so that they are not left behind.

While many businesses might be wary of the costs of this, there are several low-cost or free courses, webinars, and boot camps that are available online to get you started.

While it may seem obvious, basic online safety training is essential to ensure that employees are not risking their own or the business’s security. Building online safety,

Not only should you build this into your onboarding process, however with an annual refresher course.

Culture

While it is important for business leaders to assess where they believe the skill gaps are within the business, gaining feedback from employees and listening to what they believe are their personal biggest skill gaps, rather than just assuming what they need is also important.

As each individual has different skill sets, skill levels, experience and needs – creating a tailored approach to individuals is essential to bridge the digital skills gap.

It’s important to note that businesses need to have reasonable expectations for how long reskilling and upskilling processes will take for each individual. Furthermore, bridging the digital skill gap is going to remain an ongoing process for as long as technology continues to develop.