More than half of UK workforce lacks essential digital skills, says Lloyd’s
.jpg)
More than half of UK adults do not have the essential digital skills needed for the workplace, despite 54% of UK workers using the internet as part of their jobs.
A benchmarking report from Lloyd’s, called the UK consumer digital index, found that 53% of UK adults don’t have all of the essential skills the modern workplace demands.
Some of the skills Lloyd’s deemed “essential”, which more than half of the UK’s working population didn’t have, included the ability to avoid potentially harmful links or popups, being able to share documents as email attachments and knowing how to use online payments.
It also found that a third of the UK’s workforce lacked basic cyber security skills.
“With UK productivity in mind, it is concerning to see that 53% of UK employees do not have the essential digital skills required for the workplaces of today and tomorrow,” said Stephen Noakes, retail transformation managing director of Lloyds Banking Group, in the report’s foreword.
“On the whole, the 2019 UK consumer digital index finds that while more people are doing more online, a concerning proportion of the population are lacking the skills they need to truly succeed.”
Lloyd’s developed the benchmark in partnership with organisations such as DCMS, Google and BT to measure the level of digital skills its respondents have. The benchmark was broken down into three tiers – foundation skills, essential digital skills for life, and essential digital skills for work.
Each of these segments has a number of tasks people should be able to complete if they have that particular level of essential skill, from turning on a mobile device as part of the foundation skills, to using digital collaboration tools in the workplace.
Research by Lloyd’s found a number of disparities between different segments of the population and the likelihood of those people having the digital skills needed for work and day-to-day life.
For example, it found those who are “digital first” – people who are highly digitally capable – are 73% more likely than those who have little or no digital activity to recognise that digital skills can improve their employability.
The digitally savvy are also more likely to agree that being online helps them save money, manage their physical and mental health, and organise their lives more than those who are not online.
But not everyone has the means to access the internet or the money to buy digital devices, in many cases leaving those from more disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to suffer.
People in a higher earning bracket were more likely to have the digital skills needed for the workplace – 61% of people earning more than £25,000 a year have a majority of the skills needed for the modern workplace, as opposed to only 25% of those earning under £11,499 annually.
Those who are unemployed are also more likely to lack digital skills than those who have a job, Lloyds found.
Despite the government trying to ensure people’s basic digital skills are up to scratch via the UK’s computing curriculum and various other initiatives, there are still barriers in the way of many without the skills needed for modern living.
Since its research in 2018, Lloyd’s found the percentage of people with almost no use of digital has dropped from 15% to 12%. The bank expects this number to fall to 8% by 2030 as the UK has seen an increase in people over the age of 60 adopting technology for activities such as shopping.
Around 22% of people don’t have the essential digital skills needed for day-to-day usage of tech, including 11% of people being unable to turn on a device, and 13% being unable to open an app.
Out of the 8% of UK adults who are completely offline, 75% said they had no interest in being online, citing fears over cyber security as a top concern.
While many believe the largest segment of those who are not digitally savvy are older, that is not always the case.
Almost half of people who are not online are under the age of 60, and 47% of people who are not online come from low-income households.
A small segment of the population (8%) couldn’t complete any of the tasks required in the foundation digital skills segment, which included turning on a device, using a mouse, keyboard or touch screen, connecting a device to Wi-Fi and using a device’s menu settings.
Those with disabilities also find it difficult to get online, with 35% lacking the digital skills needed for day-to-day tasks despite having the essential skills needed for the workplace.
One-fifth of those with a disability said there is no technology to help people in their situation to use online tech more easily.
While a lack of basic digital skills poses a threat to modern living, those in the technology industry are also concerned about the lack of soft skills in the talent market – with uncertainty surrounding Brexit leaving many with the fear that both skills gaps may widen.
source computerweekly
Industry: Cyber Security News

Latest Jobs
-
- Lead Cyber Security Incident Response Consultant.
- United Kingdom
- N/A
-
Seeking skilled and passionate UK-based individual for a Lead Cyber Security Incident Response Consultant opportunity 3 core skillsets for the role Hands on technical incident response (triage and planning). Business consultancy (engaging with clients). Commercial awareness. Being able to engage in business growth conversations. Consultancy experience is an essential as it the ability to visit clients and the office. Additional experience will include, but not be limited to: Developing incident response strategies, guides and procedures for effective incident handling Proactive and reactive defense plans based on cyber threat actors' techniques Offering guidance, supervision, and fostering opportunities for team development Significant career development opportunities for the right individuals.
-
- OUTSIDE IR35 Contract- Functional tester- SC clearance Microsoft Windows Server
- London
- Outside IR35 contract
-
Front End Functional tester with SC clearance needed for an Outside IR35 project. Current valid SC clearance is required Experience with functional testing with exchange, sharepoint, SQL and other applications relating across a windows server Migration to 2019. Must be able to get to Central London 3 days a week. Jira, Wiki documentation and automation experience highly desirable.
-
- ForgeRock Consultant- UK
- United Kingdom
- Upto £100,000 plus benefits
-
ForgeRock Consultant/ Architect is require for niche consultancy who are looking to expand their presence within the UK/European Market Looking for a lead IAM architect, ideally with ForgeRock experience but would consider other vendors, But looking for someone who is able to advice and consultant with Clients but have the implementation background so they can get involved in projects as and when needed. Key duties will be: Provider IAM consultancy to clients, with a focus on ForgeRock Product stack ·Responsible for the design and implementation of ForgeRock solutions ·Install and configure ForgeRock stack to meet customer authentication and authorization requirements, ·Design and implement OAuth2 protocol using ForgeRock OpenAM, ·Design and develop OpenAM custom authentication modules, ·Configure ForgeRock stack to protect RESTful API, ·Troubleshoot and support ForgeRock IAM stack. This is a great role to join a niche play as they look to kick of their European expansion
-
- ForgeRock Consultant- Netherlands
- Netherlands
- N/A
-
ForgeRock Consultant required for 6 Month Contract This will be a mix of on site and home based, so need people to be based in the Netherlands We are looking for a lead ForgeRock Technical Consultant/ Architect with strong experience of ForgeRock to lead a new deployment project. ·Responsible for the design and implementation of ForgeRock stack ·Install and configure ForgeRock stack to meet customer authentication and authorization requirements, ·Design and implement OAuth2 protocol using ForgeRock OpenAM, ·Design and develop OpenAM custom authentication modules, ·Configure ForgeRock stack to protect RESTful API, ·Troubleshoot and support ForgeRock IAM stack. ·Designed and developed Restful APIs, This is a great project with an expanding leading IAM player within Europe, We are looking for someone with the above experience, who is comfortable hitting the ground running and taking on the reins at the start of a project