The UK Government has announced a plan to give every adult in the UK the opportunity to take free, newly benchmarked courses to gain practical Artificial Intelligence skills for work.

The initiative is part of a joint government and industry programme to upskill 10 million workers.

In order to make Britain the fastest adopting AI country in the G7, the UK has set ambitious targets to ensure the workforce is adequately skilled, confident and ready to grasp the full opportunities of AI.

This could create more higher-skilled jobs and free workers up from routine tasks, with increasing the adoption of AI potentially unlocking up to £140 billion in annual economic output as part of the government’s plans for national renewal.

AI Skills Hub

A selection of industry-developed AI courses, newly available on government’s AI Skills Hub, have been checked against Skills England’s AI foundation skills for work benchmark, with those who complete these courses receiving a virtual AI foundations badge.

Open to all UK adults online, taking as little as under 20 minutes, the courses will give people the skills needed to use simple AI tools effectively in the workplace and teach the use of AI for tasks like drafting text, creating content and completing administrative tasks, to free up time to focus on other work.

This training will give both workers and employers’ confidence in their new skills, and set standards for what good AI upskilling looks like.

The government said the programme had already delivered one million courses since June through “monumental government and industry efforts.”

NHS workers and local government employees will be among those to benefit.

Major public sector, business representative organisations, and industry partners joining, including Britain’s biggest employer, the NHS, is enabling government to raise the ambition to now reach 10 million workers this decade.

This is equivalent to upskilling nearly a third of this country’s workforce and includes reaching at least 2 million SME employees.

The government said this is the biggest targeted training programme since Harold Wilson started the Open University.

Recognising that AI will bring changes to jobs and work as we know it, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall, is also launching the new AI and the Future of Work Unit to remain front-footed in addressing inevitable challenges.

Backed by a panel of experts from business and trade unions, the government believes the unit will provide the best analysis and evidence on AI’s impact on the economy and labour market to provide timely advice on when new policies should be implemented across government.

The government said it will ensure the AI transition boosts economic growth, supports workers to adapt, protects communities from the mistakes of past industrial change, and delivers a fair, dignified future of work for everyone, where people are supported into better jobs in a more productive economy.

Tech Secretary Liz Kendall said: “We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI.

“Change is inevitable, but the consequences of change are not. We will protect people from the risks of AI while ensuring everyone can share in its benefits.”

“That starts with giving people the skills and confidence they need to seize the opportunities AI brings, putting the power and control into their hands.”

Research published today found only 21% of UK workers feel confident using AI at work, and adoption remains low with only 1 in 6 UK businesses using AI as of mid-2025.

UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) report a lower rate of AI adoption, with micro businesses 45% less likely to adopt AI than large businesses.

The Technology Secretary will take to the stage at the UK headquarters of global media giant Bloomberg in London today (Wednesday 28 January).

As part of her speech, she will confirm the following:

New partners

British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Cisco, Cognizant, Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Department for Education (DfE), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Institute of Directors (IOD) – Local Government Association (LGA), Multiverse, NHS, Pax8 and techUK will unlock AI upskilling for even more workers.

They will join the ranks of founding partners – Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS and Salesforce to take the AI Skills Boost programme to the next level and upskill 10 million workers with AI skills by 2030.

Funding

£27 million funding has been announced to kickstart government’s TechLocal scheme, part of the £187 million TechFirst programme , which will help employers fill or create up to 1,000 tech jobs in communities across the UK, and enable new professional practice courses, graduate traineeships, and work experience opportunities in AI.

Scholarships

The Government has launched offers to apply for the Spärck AI Scholarship at 9 UK Universities. The scholarships will give up to 100 talented AI and STEM Master’s students access to industry partnerships, work placements and mentorship opportunities throughout their studies, alongside covering both tuition and living expenses.

This comes alongside the government’s Skills for Life digital skills offer. The campaign provides easy access to thousands of free or government subsidised courses covering the essential digital skills people need for work and life, and digital skills people need to be able to take the next step towards a career in technology.

AI is one of the pillars of the digital tech sector plan as part of the Industrial Strategy.

Since making the commitment in June, founding partners Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, Salesforce, and SAS said they have been working to get AI skills to millions of workers by the end of the decade.

From workshops to online training, workforce and business outreach, all industry partners have played a crucial role in changing the lives of workers in communities country-wide.

To see what this looks like firsthand and hear from people taking part in AI upskilling and the positive impact it’s had on them in their personal and professional lives, Tech Secretary, Liz Kendall visited a Google Digital Garage session at Google HQ in London on Monday 26th January.

Chair of Skills England and Co-Chair of the Digital Skills Council, Phil Smith said: “AI is moving at an incredible pace and presents huge opportunity for productivity and growth.

“Skills England has worked rapidly with tech companies to make sure the courses chosen for the AI Skills Boost programme provide the quality and capability businesses need right now.

“It’s also a huge step forward that everyone who completes these short courses will get digital badges that properly recognise what they’ve learned. It’s a simple idea that will make a huge difference.”

Matt Prebble, Head of Accenture in the UK and Ireland said: “AI gives us a unique opportunity to rethink and reinvent how UK businesses will transform and grow.

“We are on a mission to drive AI adoption by giving people the right skills to take advantage of this technology, enabling them to have a greater impact, faster, which is a truly exciting prospect for the UK workforce and the UK economy more broadly.”

“We are incredibly proud to be a part of the team driving this re-skilling agenda and actively contributing to the initiatives aimed at re-skilling 7.5 million people over the next 3 years and we welcome the new AI Skills Hub which will be a vital resource for our SME community.”

Source: Media Shotz

--Agencies