Report: A Spotlight on...Lifelong Learning for an Ageing Workforce

The Skills Commission explores how employers can adapt their policies to suit a more age-diverse workforce and how skills provisions can deliver for an ageing population. 

The report argues that the workforce needs to be continually developed, rather than frontloading education and training at the start of adult life. It makes several recommendations to government, employers and training providers to improve their approach to lifelong learning

Key recommendations:

• Employers should consider implementing mentoring schemes alongside their apprenticeship programmes.
• Employers should incorporate mid-life career reviews into regular, team-wide appraisals to encourage dialogue about training needs later in life.
• Age sensitivity training should be incorporated into management training.
• Facilitate 'transferable parental leave' so that older workers in technical and professional training who have young dependents can transfer their parental leave to a grandparent or family member.