Skills Builder Partnership have launched new research which reveals the role of the eight essential skills in realising the potential of literacy and numeracy to deliver social mobility.

Our ground-breaking research reveals just how what we consider a “good education” in the current system is failing to deliver a happy and successful adulthood. Around 18% of the working population has above average education level, literacy, and numeracy, and yet a very low essential skill score. This group has the worst job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and sense of their life being worthwhile. They also earn much less than their peers.

We need to prepare all people for successful and fulfilling employment. 17% of individuals starting from a position of disadvantage do not manage to break out of a cycle of low education, basic skills, and essential skills and become trapped in low-paying or insecure jobs.

As well as highlighting the scale of the problem, our research offers reasons for optimism and a route to delivering on that.

Firstly, essential skills - those highly transferable skills you need for practically any job - act as a catalyst for realising the potential of other skills. If we are looking to boost the efficacy of literacy and numeracy initiatives, we should act on the fact that individuals who value essential skills and with higher levels of essential skills tend to place much more value on the importance of literacy and numeracy. By contrast, those who just have higher literacy or higher numeracy, only think that a particular skill is important. It is individuals with a portfolio of good essential skills, numeracy and literacy that tend to see the best life outcomes.

Secondly, essential skills can be as powerful as employment in delivering life outcomes. People who have higher levels of essential skills have improved employability, social mobility and job and life satisfaction.

Finally, there is nothing soft and fuzzy about these skills. There is up to a 12% wage premium for higher levels of essential skills, equivalent to £4,600 per year for the average worker. The cost of low essential skills to the UK economy was £22 billion in 2022 - comparable to the £28bn cost of low numeracy.

We join Well Schools in working to build an education that develops the whole child - including wellbeing, skills and attainment - and preparing young people for accessing employment, further education and training. Being able to measure essential skills, and to link these to other outcomes, is crucial to making the case for investment and change.