Union Learning - 20 years on

Artificial intelligence, automation and the transition to net zero are reshaping work across every sector. Handled well, these changes could deliver better jobs, higher productivity and new opportunities. Handled badly, they risk widening inequality and pushing many workers out of the labour market altogether.

The challenge is clear: as jobs change, people must have the chance to change with them. That means access to high-quality, on-the-job learning — particularly for those least likely to receive it.

For many adults balancing work, family and financial pressures, learning is not a theoretical opportunity. It is what makes the difference between staying in work and being excluded from it.

A system that's falling short

Yet, the current skills system is failing to meet that challenge.

Employer investment in training has fallen sharply. The average worker now receives just 5.7 days of training a year — the lowest on record — while UK employers spend around half the EU average on workforce training.

Even where opportunities exist, they are not shared fairly. Graduates are significantly more likely to receive in-work training than non-graduates. Those who would benefit most are too often the least likely to access it.

The result is a system that risks reinforcing inequality rather than reducing it, leaving those already on the margins of the labour market most exposed as jobs evolve.

At the same time, pressures across further and adult education mean there are fewer opportunities to re-engage with learning outside the workplace. For many, the route back into education is simply not visible or accessible.

It is in this context that the achievements of unionlearn over the past 20 years matter even more.

What union learning made possible

For over two decades, unionlearn offered a different model — one rooted in trust, partnership and the belief that learning belongs to everyone.

It empowered millions of workers, rebuilding confidence among those often overlooked and embedding learning within working life. Through Union Learning Representatives (ULRs), it reached people that traditional provision and employer-led training often missed.

At its heart was a simple idea: learning works best when it is collective, trusted and shaped around real working lives.

As one learner reflected on the impact of union-led education:

"I was aware of the long tradition of learning and education in the Trade Union movement, and I have since learned that the driving force behind Adult Education has been mostly the Trade Unions."

ULRs were central to this success. As trained peers in the workplace, they helped colleagues identify their learning needs, access opportunities and, crucially, rebuild confidence.

They were trusted because they understood the realities of the job — the pressures, the barriers and the competing demands on people's time.

As another learner put it:

"I'd left school thinking learning wasn't for me. One conversation with a union learning rep changed how I saw myself at work — and what I thought was possible."

For many, that first conversation was the gateway not just to learning, but to greater confidence, voice and participation at work.

Reaching the hardest to reach

A defining strength of unionlearn was its ability to reach workers other approaches often missed.

Around seven in ten people who took part in union-supported learning said they would not have done so without that support. That is the difference that trust, relevance and peer engagement can make.

Unionlearn focused on those most often excluded from education: low-paid workers, shift workers, women returners, disabled and neurodivergent workers, migrant workers and those in insecure jobs.

Barriers were understood not as failures of individuals, but as failures of access, time and opportunity.

As one worker described:

"Training never fitted around my shifts before. Union-led learning was the first time it worked for me — not against me."

A model that delivers

Union learning doesn't just benefit individuals — it delivers for employers and the wider economy too.

It supports progression, improves retention and ensures training reflects real workplace needs. Through collective bargaining, unions help embed access to learning into everyday working life and drive up employer investment in skills.

Independent evaluations have shown strong returns, but the most powerful impact is human: increased confidence, career progression, and the ability to adapt to change.

Unionlearn also demonstrated something vital for the future: unions are trusted intermediaries, uniquely placed to engage workers in learning before displacement happens — not afterwards.

Why it matters now

The closure of the Union Learning Fund in 2021 weakened a proven, cost-effective model that had taken decades to build.

The loss was not just financial. It weakened networks of trust, removed a vital route into learning for those most excluded, and reduced the capacity of workplaces to respond to change.

Reinstating the Union Learning Fund would be a practical and proven step to rebuild that capacity. It would restore a model that successfully reached those least likely to access training, strengthen workplace learning infrastructure, and support workers to adapt to change before displacement occurs.

That matters even more today.

The scale of transition facing the labour market — from AI to decarbonisation — demands a step change in how we think about skills. Waiting until people lose their jobs is too late. Support must come earlier, while people are still in work.

Reflecting on 20 years of unionlearn is therefore not just about the past — it is about understanding what the future now demands.

Looking ahead: rebuilding a worker-led system

Through the TUC's Skills 2050 work, the case for a new approach is clear — one that supports people to retrain and upskill throughout their working lives.

A stronger skills system must:

• Embed learning as a core part of working life
• Reach those least likely to access training
• Be shaped by how jobs are actually changing
• Give workers a genuine voice in their own development

That means unions, employers and government working together to ensure access to learning, proper support, and meaningful involvement for workers in shaping change.

Union Learning Representatives remain central to that vision — uniquely placed to turn national ambition into real workplace opportunities.

A legacy worth rebuilding

Unionlearn showed what is possible when learning is collective, trusted and grounded in the realities of working life.

It demonstrated that access to learning depends on confidence, relevance and trust — not just provision.

As one trade union voice reflected:

"Trade Union Education and Union Learning Reps have transformed lives in the past, as well as strengthened our movement. Perhaps it still can."

Rebuilding a model of union-led learning is not just desirable — it is essential.

If the UK is serious about creating a fairer, more resilient skills system, it must invest in what works: trusted, worker-led learning, underpinned by collective bargaining that embeds access to skills and development into working life, helping people adapt, progress and thrive.

No worker should be left behind as the world of work changes.