Employer Skills Survey 2024 - Scotland

Training and workforce development

This chapter explores the training landscape in Scotland in 2024, covering the proportion of employers that had funded or arranged training over the previous 12 months, the number of staff this training had been provided for and the types of training provided. It also explores the barriers that prevent employers providing any, or more, training. Lastly, the chapter summarises employers’ investment in training (i.e., training expenditure).

Incidence of training and workforce development

Overall, 63% of employers in Scotland had arranged or funded training for staff in the 12 months preceding the survey. This was similar to 2022 (64%) and higher than in 2020 (59%), but still lower than the seven in ten employers that reported providing training between 2011 and 2017, as shown in Figure 18.

More than half (53%) of employers had provided on-the-job training for any staff in the last 12 months, similar to the proportion in 2022 (54%). Over two fifths (42%) had provided off-the-job training for staff in the previous 12 months, up from 40% in 2022. Figure 18 shows the change in training provision over time.

Just under two thirds of employers provided training to their staff in the last 12 months.

Figure 18: Proportion of employers providing training in the last 12 months (overall, on-the-job and off-the-job) over time (2011-2024)

Base: All sites in Scotland (2011: 2,487; 2013: 6,014; 2015: 6,035; 2017: 6,017; 2020: 3,497; 2022: 5,207; 2024: 5,080).

The proportion of employers providing training to their staff over the last 12 months increased with site size, from 46% of employers with 2 to 4 staff, to 76% of sites with 5 to 24 staff, to 91% of those with 25 or more staff.

As shown in Figure 19, training incidence also varied by sector. Employers in the Education, Health and Social Work and Public Administration sectors were the most likely to provide training (88%, 86% and 84% respectively). Conversely, fewer than half (47%) of Primary Sector and Utilities sites provided training to their staff in the previous 12 months, and as in 2022 this was the only sector where less than half of employers had provided training to their staff.

There was only one sector where there was a significant change compared to 2022 in the proportion of employers providing any training in the previous 12 months: this was a decrease in the Wholesale and Retail sector from 65% in 2022 to 59% in 2024. (It is worth noting that the 2022 figure of 65% was a large increase compared to the 51% in 2020).

By ROA region, employers in West Lothian (70%) followed by Glasgow (68%) and Edinburgh and Lothians (65%) were the most likely to have provided training, while employers in Dumfries and Galloway were least likely (55%).

Further data on the prevalence of training, with corresponding 2022 results, can be found in Tables 73 to 75 of the Background Tables.

Employers in Education and the Health and Social work sectors were the most likely to have provided training to their staff in the last 12 months, as was the case in 2022.

Figure 19: Proportion of employers providing any training in the last 12 months by sector, 2024 compared to 2022

Base: All sites in Scotland. (2024: 5,080; sector base sizes range from 69 for Public Administration to 996 for Wholesale and Retail 2022: 5,207; sector base sizes range from 55 for Public Administration to 1,109 for Wholesale and Retail).

Scottish employers had provided around 9 million training days over the last 12 months, equating to 6.0 days per annum per person trained (‘per trainee’) and 3.6 days per employee. These figures are lower than in 2022 (when the equivalent figures were around 9.6 million training days, equating to 6.7 days per annum per trainee and 3.9 days per employee).

The number of training days per trainee per annum was highest for sites with 25 to 49 and 50 to 99 staff (7.4 and 7.6 days respectively) and lowest, as in 2022, among employers with 100 or more staff (4.6 days). Training days per trainee were highest in Health and Social Work (7.9), and lowest in Primary Sector and Utilities sites (3.7) and Transport and Storage (4.4 days).

The proportion of staff trained

Across the Scottish workforce, 60% of employees had received training in the previous 12 months. The proportion of staff trained was similar to 2022 (59%), higher than in 2020 (55%), but lower than pre-pandemic levels (62% in 2017 and 2015, and 65% in 2013).

As in 2022, staff in sites with 50 to 99 employees were the most likely to receive training (70%) while those in sites with 2 to 4 employees were the least likely (37%).

Employees in Information and Communications (77%) and in the Education sector (71%) were the most likely to have received training over the last 12 months. In comparison a minority of staff in Public Administration, Construction and in Manufacturing (42%, 46% and 47% respectively) had received training in this time period, as shown in Table 8. Employers in Health and Social Work, Information and Communications and Transport and Storage had trained a higher proportion of their staff over the last 12 months in 2024 than in 2022, while the reverse was true in Primary Sector and Utilities, Construction, Wholesale and Retail, and Public Administration.

By ROA region, the highest proportion of staff were trained by employers in Glasgow (66%), followed by Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire (63%) and West (63%). In a number of ROA regions there were marked changes compared with 2022, most notably a large increase in Ayrshire (from 27% in 2022 to 62% in 2024, following a large decrease from 2020 to 2022) and decreases in the Borders (from 60% in 2022 to 48% in 2024) and in Tayside (from 64% in 2022 to 53% in 2024).

Further data on the proportion of staff trained, with corresponding 2022 results, can be found in Tables 77 to 79 of the Background Tables.

Employers in the Information and Communications and the Education sectors trained the largest proportion of their staff in the last 12 months. In terms of volume, Health and Social Work employers trained the highest number of staff, followed by Business Services employers.

Table 8: Number and proportion of staff trained, by sector in 2024

	Number of employees trained	% of staff trained
Scotland	1.5m	60%
Primary Sector and Utilities	72,400	59%
Manufacturing	83,000	47%
Construction	63,900	46%
Wholesale and Retail	185,000	56%
Hotels and Restaurants	139,600	64%
Transport and Storage	71,000	64%
Information and Communications	56,300	77%
Financial Services	-	-
Business Services	247,500	64%
Public Administration	71,600	42%
Education	156,500	71%
Health and Social Work	272,000	66%
Arts and Other Services	67,800	60%

Base: All sites in Scotland (5,080). Percentages are based on all employment rather than all sites; figures therefore show the proportion of all staff within each subgroup trained over the last 12 months. Results for Financial Services not shown – see the Data and Methodology for more information.

As shown in Figure 20, staff in Caring, Leisure and Other Services occupations were the most likely to have received training in the previous 12 months (70%). This was also the case in 2022, but then a far higher proportion of staff in this occupation had received training (91%).

Managers and those in Administrative and Secretarial roles were the least likely to have received training in the previous 12 months (both 44%).

As well as the decrease already described for staff in Caring, Leisure and Other Services occupations between 2022 and 2024, there were notable decreases (of 5 percentage points or more) in the proportion of Associate Professionals trained in the last 12 months (from 64% in 2022 to 49% in 2024) and in the proportion of Administrative and Secretarial occupations trained (from 50% in 2022 to 44% in 2024). Notable increases occurred in the proportion of two occupational groups trained over the previous 12 months: Skilled Trades (from 50% in 2022 to 59% in 2024) and Elementary Occupations (from 57% to 63%).

Staff in Caring, Leisure and Other Services occupations remained the most likely to have received training in the last 12 months, though a lower proportion had been trained than in 2022.

Figure 20: Proportion of staff trained over the last 12 months by occupation, 2024 compared to 2022

Base: All sites in Scotland (2022: 5,207 with occupational base sizes ranging from 123 for Caring, Leisure and Other Services Occupations to 655 for Managers. 2024: 5,080 with occupational base sizes ranging from 481 for Process, Plant and Machine Operatives to 2,386 for Managers).

Types of training provided

Employers who provided training to staff in the last 12 months were most likely to have provided job specific training (85%) and health and safety or first aid training (75%); these were also the most common forms of training offered in 2022 (86% and 73% respectively).

Two thirds of training employers (67%) reported providing any form of induction training, similar to 2022 (68%) but an increase on 2020 (59%).

Results were very similar in 2024 compared with 2022, with the only statistically significant change being an increase in the proportion of employers that trained that had provided health and safety or first aid training (75% in 2024, up from 73% in 2022).

The most common type of training provided by employers was job specific training.

Figure 21: Types of training provided, 2024 compared to 2022

Base: All sites that train in Scotland (2024: 3,672; 2022: 3,822).

Overall, 59% of employers that had trained employees in the previous 12 months had arranged or funded external training for their staff (up from 54% in 2022), equivalent to just over a third (36%) of all employers.

The most common source of external training used by training employers was commercial organisations (44%, up from 40% in 2022) as shown in Figure 22.

Training employers continued to be most likely to use other commercial organisations as their source for external training.

Figure 22: Sources of external training used by training employers, 2024 compared to 2022

Base: All sites providing training in Scotland (2024 (Module B): 910; 2022 (Module B): 996).

Just over four in ten (43%) training employers, equivalent to 27% of all employers, had provided training to a nationally recognised qualification in the past 12 months, very similar to results in 2022 (42% and 27% respectively). Around 230,000 staff had been trained to a nationally recognised qualification in the last 12 months, equivalent to 15% of those trained and 9% of all employees (exactly the percentages found in 2022). This training was most commonly to SCQF Level 7 or above (12% of training employers had trained staff to a qualification of this level, the same proportion as in 2022).

Around seven in ten training employers (69%) had provided online training or e-learning in the previous 12 months, up from 66% in 2022.

Further data on the types of training arranged and funded by employers, with corresponding 2022 results, can be found in Table 81 of the Background Tables.

Barriers and limits to training

By far the most common reason for not providing training was that all employees were considered fully proficient and had no need for further training (68%, similar to the 2022 figure of 66%). The second most common reason not having the money available for training (5%). Results were very similar to 2022. The full list of reasons is shown in Figure 23.

Employers that did not train were most likely to report that the reason for not providing training was because all staff were fully proficient.

Figure 23: Reasons for not providing training to staff, 2024 compared to 2022

Base: All sites not providing training to staff in Scotland (excluding don’t know responses) (2024: 1,309; 2022: 1,316). Chart shows reasons mentioned by at least 2% of respondents in 2024.

Reasons for not training varied by sector. Those in Construction were more likely than employers across Scotland in general to cite staff being fully proficient (76%) as a reason, while this was less of an issue than average, though still the primary reason, in Health and Social Work (49%) and Wholesale and Retail (61%). No money being available was more of an issue than average in Education (14%) and Arts and Other Services (10%), as was staff learning by experience in the Hotels and Restaurants sector (9%), and training being arranged and funded elsewhere in the organisation in Education (17%), Health and Social Work (12%) and Wholesale and Retail (6%).

Overall, 44% of training sites reported that they would have preferred to provide more training than they had done in the previous 12 months (similar to the 46% found in 2022). This was more common among larger sites (60% among those with 100 or more employees compared with 38% among those with fewer than 5 employees). The two main reasons why employers that trained who would have liked to provide more training felt unable to do so was not being able spare staff time (53%, up from 47% in 2022) and a lack of funds for training (43%, up from 36% in 2022).

Sites in the Highlands and Islands, Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire ROA regions were more likely than other ROAs to report difficulty finding training providers who can deliver training where or when they want (15%, 13% and 12% respectively, compared to 6% overall).

If an employer had provided all of the training that they wished to (including those who provided no training out of choice) they are said to be in “training equilibrium” (see Glossary). Overall, 57% of employers were in training equilibrium for the year preceding the survey, while 43% wanted to undertake more training than they did as shown in Figure 24. These proportions are unchanged from 2022.

While the majority of employers were in training equilibrium (no desire for more training), just over two fifths reported wanting to undertake more training.

Figure 24: Training equilibrium status of employers in 2024