Unit for Future Skills

The Unit for Future Skills (UFS) provided decision makers in the skills system with the information they needed to invest in the right skills to meet national and local employer needs and support economic growth.

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The Unit for Future Skills was set up by the Department for Education to help provide the skills system with the information needed to invest in the right skills to meet the national and local needs of employers. Skills England now fulfills this role.

The Unit for Future Skills (UFS) was an analytical and research unit within the Department for Education. It was set up to improve the quality of jobs and skills data, working across government to make this available and more accessible to policy makers, stakeholders and the general public.

This data and research aimed to support a better understanding of skill mismatches and future demand throughout the country. It helped our skills system respond effectively to deliver good jobs and higher productivity.

The UFS chair was Professor Sir Ian Diamond, National Statistician.

Jobs and skills data includes links to dashboards and research developed by UFS.

Role

Working closely with analysts and data experts across government departments, together with a wide range of external stakeholders, the unit proactively worked to:​

  • improve coverage and timeliness of jobs and skills data to provide a robust foundation of research and data
  • structure and improve access to the data by linking up data sets, mapping education and jobs at local levels, and providing tools that enable exploration of the data
  • provide insights to enable learning, thinking and discussion on skills data and research
  • offer a programme of communications and events as a centre of expertise for skills data and future insights into the labour market

UFS built on the analysis and research of the Skills and Productivity Board.

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