Business advice expert, Dale Morgan,warns that slashing the training budget is a false economy and could prevent companies competing globally.

As training levels drop in the wake of the recession, business advice expert Dale Morgan urges employers not to underestimate the value in up-skilling their workforce to improve efficiency.

The National Employer Skills Survey 2009 shows that the number of people being trained dropped from 14 million (63%) in 2007 to 12.8 million (56%) in 2009.

Dale Morgan, the Chief Executive of TCHC, a company specialising in business and workforce development, explains:

“The fact that fewer people, just over half of the British workforce, received training in 2009 is worrying. The UK is already facing a skills shortage and if training levels continue to fall, this will only worsen.”

Results from the 2009 survey also show that for the first time since 2003, the number of people in the UK workforce who are under-skilled for their current occupation has increased from 1.4 million to 1.7 million, suggesting that the reduction in training has left more people without the requisite skills to perform effectively, which may harm economic recovery.

In addition, almost 70% of employers anticipate that some of their staff will need to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge over the next 12 months, which indicates that employers themselves acknowledge skills gaps within their organisation.

“A huge proportion of UK employers, almost three-quarters, want to up-skill their workforce over the coming months.

“However, the reduction in training over the last two years is at odds with this anticipated demand, which suggests that some employers are unwilling to invest in training, seeing it as an extra cost they can’t, or don’t want to bear.

"In actual fact, failing to invest in training is a false economy. Staff that aren’t proficient at their jobs, and are therefore delivering a poorer service, can have a hugely detrimental effect on a business,” explains Dale.

“The economy is in a fragile state at the moment. Due to the weakness of sterling, UK business, for the first time in a long time, has the opportunity to export more and reduce the trade deficit. We need to ensure that our workforce has the skills to take advantage of this, otherwise we will struggle to compete globally and drive our economic recovery.”

Many employers may not be aware what help is available to them to help grow their business. TCHC’s business advisory service offers a free skills health check, or ‘diagnostic’, that highlights areas where training and development will have a positive impact.

TCHC’s advisory service helps companies across the greater south east of England to discover the options available to them and highlights any funding that might be available to support business development.

Businesses interested in finding out more can contact TCHC on 01923 698430 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .