Skills Index

The UK Government's Further Education Skills Index for England which provides an analysis of the value and impact of skills delivered by investments in further education.

The index uses the 2012-13 academic year as a baseline and "tracks the total productivity contribution of the FE system by aggregating estimated earnings returns for adult learners and apprentices who successfully complete their training."

Some key findings for 2019/20 include:
• An almost continual decrease in index value. (This was 50 in 2019/20 when compared with the baseline value of 100 in 2012/13).
• Achievements have been falling, primarily due to fewer learners. ("The number of 19+ learners participating in FE and Skills fell from 3.3m in 2012/13 to 1.7m in 2019/20, and the number of apprentices fell from 870k to 720k in the same period.")
• An increase of value added per learner of 6% since 2012/13.
• Level 3 qualifications show slightly better employment prospects than a Level 2 qualification, reinforcing the benefits of education and training, but there are inconsistencies within this across sectors. Some examples (with high and low range, with other outdoor working and indoor working) to compare with the land-based industry are: