The government is promising a post-Covid skills revolution for England, which aims to boost skills in construction, digital, energy and manufacturing. This might come as a welcome relief for the digital sector, especially as a lack of skilled workers is a common obstacle in a company’s digital transformation journey. However, this latest government commitment to address the digital skills gap could go further.

The digital skills gap has long existed, and can be much more likened to a stress fracture that has been caused by a combination of companies’ lack of speed to upskill new employees and how fast technology has evolved. These companies should not expect employees to be digitally experienced from day one, nor rely on the public funded education system to close the gap. The responsibility lies with companies themselves to train and upskill employees to achieve a digitally skilled workforce who have the appropriate set of skills for the jobs they will be carrying out.