What the evidence means
The Employer Skills Survey 2024 interviewed 22,712 employers. The measure covers on-the-job and off-the-job training funded or arranged by the employer.
Training activity in the 12 months preceding interview.
G&G verified business evidence
UK employers providing training in 2024
In 2024, 59% of UK employers had funded or arranged training for staff during the previous 12 months.
59
percent
Original source
Department for Education
Employer Skills Survey 2024
The training chapter reports that 59% of employers funded or arranged training.
View original evidence
Department for Education. Employer Skills Survey 2024. 24th of July, 2025. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/employer-skills-survey/2024
Why this matters to UK SMEs
This provides a benchmark for how common employer-funded or arranged training is across the UK. It is especially relevant to smaller businesses because the likelihood of providing training rises sharply with workforce size.
Key breakdowns
The 59% of employers providing training compares with 60% in 2022 and 66% in 2017. On-the-job training was provided by 48% of employers and off-the-job training by 40%; employers could provide both. Overall, 63% of employees received training. Provision ranged from 44% of sites with 2 to 4 employees to 73% of sites with 5 to 24 employees and 96% of sites with 250 or more employees. It was highest in education (88%) and health and social work (83%), and lowest in primary industries and utilities (48%), construction (50%) and manufacturing (51%). Scotland recorded 63%, while Northern Ireland recorded 56%.
How to interpret this evidence
A majority of employers trained staff, but provision remained below its earlier-series level and was much less common at the smallest sites. The gap by size is important for SME interpretation: a national average can conceal the time, capacity and fixed-cost constraints facing very small employers.
Limitations
The Employer Skills Survey is a weighted telephone survey of employer sites with at least two people on payroll; it does not cover non-employers. Training is employer-reported and includes any qualifying on-the-job or off-the-job activity arranged during the previous 12 months, without judging its duration, quality or effectiveness. Larger and smaller sites have different workforce structures, and subgroup estimates carry sampling uncertainty.
Practical considerations
G&G perspective: create a simple skills plan linking each training activity to a role requirement or business objective. Protect time for learning and follow-up practice, record who has been trained and evaluate whether performance changed. For a small team, a short targeted programme may be more useful than copying the volume or format used by a large employer.