Union learning is back. Now bring lifelong learning to every workplace.
Labour’s conference in Liverpool put skills at the centre of its plans for growth. The Chancellor announced an extra £100 million to extend a mayor-led Local Apprenticeships Service, connecting young people with employers who have not previously offered apprenticeships. Alongside that youth-focused measure came a quieter announcement with potentially wider implications: the restoration of the Union Learning Fund in England, with a new focus on helping workers adapt to artificial intelligence. (The Labour Party)
Both announcements are welcome. Nearly a million young people are outside education, employment or training, and a better route into a first job is vital. But, Britain will not meet its future skills needs through new entrants alone. People already in work will have to learn new tools, change how they do their jobs and, in some cases, move into different occupations. A lifelong skills policy must create opportunities for them too.
The Union Learning Fund offers a useful model. Established by the last Labour government in 1998, it supported trade unions and trained workplace learning representatives to work with employees, employers and providers. A representative could start a conversation with a colleague who had not considered returning to education, identify what they wanted to learn, and help them find a route into training. The previous government ended funding for the scheme after March 2021. Restoring it recognises that making courses available is only part of the job: somebody must also help people see why learning is relevant and how to begin. (unionlearn.org.uk)
There is evidence that this approach offered value for money. Independent research undertaken for the TUC estimated that, for a previous round of the fund, each £1 invested generated £12.87 in economic benefits to learners and employers over time, as well as a £3.60 return to the Exchequer. These are modelled long-term returns, rather than cash immediately recovered by the Treasury, but they make a strong case for testing the renewed fund against clear measures of participation, progression and impact. (TUC)
The fund’s distinctive contribution is to create demand for learning. An employee may know that AI is changing their work without knowing which skills will help them use it, whether training is affordable, or whether an employer will give them time to take part. A trusted conversation at work can turn that uncertainty into a first step. For one person, that might be digital confidence; for another, a technical module, a higher qualification or preparation for a different role. The Chancellor’s proposed AI focus gives the restored fund a timely purpose, provided it supports workers’ broader ability to upskill and reskill as technology changes.
Its reach, however, has a clear limit. Union learning can benefit non-members in workplaces where unions are present; it should not be described as a benefit reserved for union members. But it depends on a union presence and the capacity to organise learning. Most employees work in non-unionised businesses: in 2025, 22.4% of UK employees belonged to a trade union, including just 12.1% of private-sector employees. Smaller workplaces were also much less likely than larger ones to have a union presence. The renewed fund cannot, on its own, provide a route into lifelong learning for the whole workforce.
That is why Labour should pair its restoration with better work-based information, advice and guidance. All employees need a practical way to discuss their skills and prospects, understand local opportunities and get impartial advice about courses and funding. Mayors, colleges, training providers and employer groups could help bring that support into workplaces, particularly smaller firms that lack dedicated training teams. Guidance should connect people to flexible provision, including short courses and credit-based learning that can build towards a qualification through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
The conference announcements begin to address both ends of the skills challenge: helping young people into work and helping existing workers to keep learning. The Union Learning Fund is a welcome return because it understands something that skills policy often misses: people rarely enrol in a course simply because a programme exists. They need confidence, advice and a credible reason to invest their time. The next task is to make that invitation available across the workforce, including to those who have no union learning representative to ask.
