Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest News

Unions key to developing employee skills

by Personnel Today 6 Feb 2003
by Personnel Today 6 Feb 2003

Unions
are key to closing the employee skills gap, which is costing UK business an
estimated £10bn a year, according to a TUC report published today.

The
research, written by John Healey MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and
Natascha Engel, a graduate of the TUC’s Organising Academy, spotlights the
potential of union learning representatives to encourage and help colleagues to
develop skills through training.

It
also urges unions to use their increasingly important role in tackling learning
and skills issues to boost union membership and break into previously
unorganised sectors of the economy.

A
network of 4,500 union learning representatives have fostering training in
workplaces, with the help of the £12.5m union learning fund set up by the
Government in 1998, and this is predicted to grow to at least 22,000 by 2010.

The
report commends the Government for feeding this growth by allocating £20m to
the union learning fund budget over the next two years and introducing the same
statutory rights and protections for union learning reps as other workplace
union reps (with effect from April 2003).

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Healey
said: "Improving skills is the key to increasing productivity, growth and
prosperity – both for individual companies and for our economy as a whole. The
firms that invest in training are often those that grow more rapidly, increase
productivity and become more profitable. That’s good for employers and
employees alike. And trade unions have a massive role to play making training a
top priority in every workplace."

By Paul Nelson

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
‘Poor’ City workers hit by bonus cuts
next post
Public sector staff face 3 per cent pay rises

You may also like

RAD Awards 2026 open for entries

16 Jul 2025

Sick pay reforms ‘deliver £2bn of benefits’ –...

16 Jul 2025

Ethnicity and disability pay gaps: Ready to report?...

16 Jul 2025

Trans row nurse cleared of misconduct as tribunal...

16 Jul 2025

Hugh’s Law calls for paid leave for parents...

16 Jul 2025

Inflation increases by more than expected

16 Jul 2025

Beware the unintended consequences of the NDA ban

16 Jul 2025

Number of police working second jobs doubles

15 Jul 2025

Mansion House speech: will employers’ pension contributions rise?

15 Jul 2025

University staff to strike over hybrid working curbs

15 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+