The City & Guilds Foundation’s new Impact & Learning Report reveals how targeted skills investment is transforming lives, while highlighting the need for more joined-up, locally responsive approaches to tackling economic inactivity and skills inequalities.
Published at a critical time for the UK’s skills landscape, the report draws on programme delivery, stakeholder engagement and independently commissioned research to highlight a central finding: improving access to skills is not just about increasing training provision, but ensuring people can access the right opportunities, in the right places, with the right support.
It also marks a significant milestone for the Foundation, which has become a fully independent charity following the sale of City & Guilds’ commercial awarding and training activities.
Demonstrating the impact of targeted skills investment
Over the reporting year, the Foundation has directly supported 1,449 people through its funded programmes, awards and fellowships, with more than 913 developing new skills and over 323 in employment following support.
Its Local Community Skills Fund supported 475 people, with 87% reporting increased confidence and wellbeing and 60% achieving positive progression.
The Transition Commission reached 186 disadvantaged young people aged 14 to 25, with 84% reporting increased confidence and wellbeing and 79% developing new skills.
Programmes supporting people with experience of the criminal justice system reached a further 314 individuals, while 135 refugees and asylum seekers received targeted support. The Foundation also awarded 72 bursaries to individuals facing financial hardship and barriers to training.
Together, these findings demonstrate how focused investment can help people develop the confidence, skills and connections needed to progress towards sustainable employment.
The Ripple Effect
The Foundation’s impact extends well beyond those receiving direct, intensive support. Through wider partnerships and initiatives, it is helping to create opportunities and strengthen skills provision on a national scale.
In its first year, the Foundation’s partnership with EngineeringUK reached 1,731 students across 15 secondary schools, while its support for City & Guilds of London Art School’s National Saturday Club contributed to wider engagement across a network of 27 schools, SEN settings and youth organisations, with around 3,500 pupils, teachers, tutors and alumni reached or influenced through broader widening participation activities. Elsewhere, the iDEA Foundation supported 2,716 neurodivergent learners, while a further 4,461 displaced people and support workers benefited indirectly from resources, toolkits and signposting.
Although these initiatives vary in the intensity of support provided, they highlight the wider ripple effect of the Foundation’s investment, extending its reach, strengthening organisations and creating opportunities for many more people.
A growing national challenge
The findings come amid significant challenges for the UK labour market, with around 9.4 million working-age people economically inactive.
The report references Alan Milburn’s May 2026 interim review of young people and work, which found approximately one in eight 16-24-year-olds were not in education, employment or training (NEET), projected to rise to one in six.
It also highlights that around £25 is spent on benefits for every £1 invested in employment support for this group.
Against this backdrop, the Foundation’s evidence reinforces the importance of earlier interventions that build confidence, sustain engagement in education and create pathways into work.
The findings suggest qualifications and immediate employment outcomes do not always capture the full value of support. For people facing complex barriers, rebuilding confidence, establishing trusted relationships and re-engaging with learning can be essential first steps.
Why place matters in tackling skills inequalities
One of the report’s most significant findings is that access to opportunity varies considerably across the country.
Newly commissioned research, The Access to Opportunity Spectrum: Skills in Place, identifies different barriers facing rural communities, coastal towns with weaker labour markets and urban areas where opportunities exist but remain inaccessible to some groups.
It challenges the assumption that having a college, training provider or employer nearby necessarily translates into access to opportunity. Instead, investment must respond to local circumstances, whether through better transport connections, stronger employer relationships or training delivered by trusted community organisations.
These findings are particularly relevant as government places greater emphasis on devolution, local economic growth and regional approaches to skills provision.
The Foundation’s Local Community Skills Fund demonstrates the potential of small grants, typically between £5,000 and £10,000, to strengthen locally rooted organisations.
In Salford, a Foundation-supported programme delivered by Frameworks helped women living in social housing develop maintenance skills, with 57% subsequently moving into housing-sector employment. The project has attracted interest from local and regional authorities as a potential model for widening participation.
Supporting people at critical transition points
Alongside place, the report identifies transitions between education, employment and other stages of life as moments when individuals face a heightened risk of disengagement.
A second commissioned research paper, The Risk of Transfer: The Role of Skills at Key Transition Points, identifies three recurring challenges: timing, the format of support and poor coordination between organisations.
It finds that services are frequently structured around age or eligibility thresholds rather than individual readiness, meaning support can end when people need it most.
A key finding is the importance of continuity, particularly access to a trusted adult or mentor who can support individuals through different stages of their journey.
This has implications for government approaches to youth employment, education transitions and rehabilitation.
For people leaving prison, the Foundation’s programmes demonstrate that vocational training must be accompanied by practical support after release, employer relationships and help overcoming barriers such as transport and equipment costs.
Similarly, programmes supporting refugees show that existing skills and qualifications may not translate into employment without targeted support and professional connections.
Employers have a critical role to play
The report also highlights the importance of employers in creating a more inclusive and productive workforce.
At a time when employer investment in training has declined, the Foundation’s Princess Royal Training Awards continue to recognise excellence in learning and development.
Since 2016, 528 awards have been granted to more than 330 organisations, recognising training programmes reaching over one million people.
The report also highlights the importance of neuroinclusive workplaces. Its 2026 Neurodiversity Index, drawing on responses from 412 employers and 1,864 employees, found that 42% of organisations now have a neurodiversity policy, up from 36% last year.
However, neurodivergent employees still wait more than twice as long as colleagues for workplace adjustments, highlighting the gap between employer commitments and employee experiences.
A new chapter for the Foundation
As the City & Guilds Foundation enters a new chapter as an independent charity, the report identifies opportunities to strengthen its role as a funder, convener and champion of effective technical skills development.
Rather than duplicating existing provision, it points towards a more catalytic approach, using targeted investment to test solutions, generate evidence and help successful initiatives grow.
Jessica Leigh Jones MBE FCGI, Chair of the City and Guilds of London Institute, said:
“What we heard has sharpened our thinking. Those we consulted were clear that we are best placed to use all our assets to act as a catalytic and agile engine for change.”
As policymakers consider how to improve employment outcomes, tackle skills shortages and ensure economic growth benefits more people, the report offers practical evidence of what effective support can look like.
The message is clear: creating a more inclusive and productive economy requires more than investment in qualifications. It requires investment in people, relationships and local systems that enable individuals to turn skills into lasting opportunity.
The City & Guilds Foundation’s Impact & Learning Report 2026 is available here.