The Government Skills announcement set to deliver economic growth and break down barriers to opportunity

May 29, 2025

On Tuesday 27 May, the Government has announced a package of radical skills reforms which will create more opportunities for young people and increase investment in the skills system, helping to deliver up to 120,000 training places across this Parliament.

The top lines in the announcement are:

Radical skills reforms to deliver economic growth and break down barriers to opportunity for young people.
Apprenticeship budget to exceed £3 billion for first time and funding to be redistributed towards young people as part of Plan for Change.

What are the key policy changes?

Creating more opportunities for young people with the Growth and Skills Levy by introducing Foundation Apprenticeships for young people from August 2025, initially in Industrial Strategy priority areas and underpinned by an employer incentive payment.
To deliver the funding for this boost in opportunity for young people, confirming that Government will proceed with moving funding away from Level 7 apprenticeships.
Reiterating the recent Immigration White Paper commitment to boost investment in skills by increasing the Immigration Skills Charge, which will be used at the upcoming Spending Review to support skills funding in priority sectors and upskill the domestic workforce.
Increasing investment in construction training by devolving £14million of additional adult skills funding for the construction sector to mayors, which will deliver up to 5,000 additional adult learners on training courses.
Confirming £136 million for local areas to provide Skills Bootcamps in priority sectors.
Launching Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) specialising in construction skills, with selection underway this term for ten TECs that will launch in September 2025.
Skills England will confirm appointments to its Board, ahead of being formally notified to Parliament as an Executive Agency of DfE on 2 June.

Our response

Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “It’s positive to see the Government’s skills announcement this week, helping to create more opportunities for young people getting into work and increase investment in the skills system. However, as part of its skills reform, we urge the Government to consider the hospitality industry as part of the plans. It’s a key sector that can deliver change at both pace and scale, unlike many of the current priority sectors.

We demonstrated this recently with the successful launch of Hospitality Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) created in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions.

UKHospitality has already had training solutions in development for some time now, all of which are ready to be launched as soon as the required backing and support is confirmed.

These include:

A foundation apprenticeship for Hospitality ready to be delivered from August 2025 and set to provide the perfect progression for new entrants to the industry.
A Hospitality Graduate Apprenticeship Scheme at Level 7 ready to launch in September 2025.
Hospitality and catering courses ready to go live for adult learners, to support them both in getting into work, as well as upskilling for progression.
Hospitality Skills Bootcamps that have already received initial interest from several locations, including London, Liverpool and Sussex.
Continued work with a large network of colleges who provide exemplar hospitality and catering teaching in commercial kitchens and restaurants open to the public.

It’s therefore imperative that the Government recognises and backs the dedicated work the hospitality sector is doing to provide best-in-class training for those entering and already working in the industry.”