Low essential skills cost the UK an estimated £22.2bn a year, and adults are gaining seven million fewer qualifications in the last decade. These are some stark realities we discussed this month when we brought together employers, education and training providers and local stakeholders at Morley College London for Building London’s Future Workforce: Scaling Transferable Skills for Success, an as part of Get the Nation Learning Week.
The event explored a key priority identified in the 2026 London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP): developing the transferable skills that employers need and that enable Londoners to thrive in work and build successful careers.
As London’s economy continues to evolve, technical knowledge and qualifications remain essential, but they are only part of the picture. Employers increasingly need people who can communicate effectively, work collaboratively, solve problems and adapt to change. Developing these skills is critical to helping businesses access the talent they need while ensuring Londoners can take advantage of employment opportunities.
From discussion to action
A central focus of the morning was how organisations can move beyond recognising the importance of transferable skills to embedding their development into recruitment, training and workforce development. How do we define essential skills, and how does your favourite ice cream flavour play into this?
Miranda Adams, Lead Associate in the Employers Team at Skills Builder, led an interactive workshop introducing the Skills Builder Framework and exploring how it can help organisations define, develop and measure essential skills.
The framework offers a shared language for skills development, helping employers and education providers identify the capabilities people need, understand their existing strengths and create structured opportunities to improve. Simply being able to have a conversation with a stranger on their favourite flavour of ice cream can be a stepping stone to building confidence in communication, a key part of transferable skills.
Attendees also heard from early adopters, such as Oliver Bonas and Envision, about how transferable skills frameworks are being used in practice to support recruitment and staff development. These examples demonstrated how organisations can turn broad expectations into practical approaches, with clear actions to support learning and measure progress.
Working together to strengthen London’s skills
A key message from the workshop was the importance of collaboration between employers and education and training providers.
Businesses need to articulate the skills they are looking for, while providers need opportunities to understand changing employer requirements and translate them into relevant learning and development. A shared framework can help bridge this gap, creating greater clarity around what transferable skills look like and how they can be developed.
The session reinforced the importance of turning these conversations into action. This means encouraging more employers to adopt transferable skills frameworks, supporting providers to embed them into learning and strengthening partnerships across London’s skills ecosystem.
The 2026 London LSIP provides a foundation for this work, identifying transferable skills and work readiness as priorities for the capital. BusinessLDN will continue working with employers, education and training providers and partners to turn these priorities into practical action. To find out more and get involved, get in touch.