Research and analysis

UK Standard Skills Classification development report

A report detailing how the UK Standard Skills Classification (SSC) has been developed, and proposals for how it could be maintained.

• From: Skills England
• Published: 30 April 2026

Documents

UK Standard Skills Classification Development Report (PDF)

PDF, 1.07 MB, 57 pages

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Executive summary, introduction and acknowledgements

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The UK Standard Skills Classification

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The UK Skills Explorer Tool

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UK Standard Skills Classification use cases

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Summary of methodology

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Updating the UK Standard Skills Classification

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Extending the UK Standard Skills Classification

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Appendix A: available mappings

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Appendix B: full methodology

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Details

The UK Standard Skills Classification (SSC) was proposed in 2022 as a coherent framework and common language for describing the skills, tasks, and knowledge required across UK occupations. The project had 2 main phases.

Phase 1, undertaken from April to September 2023, resulted in a report, ‘A skills classification for the UK’ published in October 2023, outlining user needs and plans for the development of the SSC.

Phase 2 of the project ran from March 2024 to April 2026. An interim report was published in November 2025 to provide a progress update.

This report replaces the interim report and details all the work undertaken in Phase 2 of the project, resulting in Version 1.0 of the UK Standard Skills Classification.

It sets out the structure of the SSC, the method of its construction, and potential applications of the classification, as well as proposals for its ongoing maintenance and future development.

For more information on the UK SSC, visit UK Standard Skills Classification.

Published 30 April 2026