According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report, skill gaps remain the most significant barrier to business transformation. These gaps are directly linked to organisations being unprepared for evolving markets and rapid technological change.
In response, the UK government is rolling out initiatives and regulatory reforms to address talent shortages. Notably, the £187 million-backed TechFirst programme aims to equip millions of workers and students with AI and digital skills, while the AI Opportunities Action Plan integrates agentic AI into public services and the private sector.
However, to truly bridge the national skills divide, organisational leaders and policymakers must confront a growing challenge: regional skills gaps. While London continues to attract investment, talent, and educational opportunities, many other regions risk being left behind.
If the UK is to build a future-ready economy, businesses must take an active role in closing these regional gaps. But these efforts will need to start sooner rather than later.
The scale of the challenge
The UK faces one of the largest regional skills divides in Europe, a challenge that demands urgent action. According to Research from the Centre for Cities, closing the skills gap between London and the rest of the UK would require 4.1 million more people outside the capital to gain higher education qualifications.
This growing disparity threatens the UK’s ability to future-proof its workforce. The UK will need AI skills across all regions, yet it is already seeing a sizable divide in AI opportunities across locations. According to Accenture’s UK Tech Talent Tracker, nearly two-thirds of technology job vacancies are based in London, with the capital accounting for a staggering 80% of demand for AI skills across UK cities.
Closing skills gaps often remains a low priority for many C-suite leaders, but the scale of the UK’s skills challenge is too significant to ignore.As organisations across industries adopt AI and other emerging technologies, they’re creating new digital roles which require targeted training and development for the next generation of digital workers. Without a coordinated, nationwide workforce development strategy – one that incorporates every region in the UK – the divide between those with access to opportunity and those without will only widen. Future-proofing the UK economy means investing in skills everywhere, not just in the capital.
Why closing the gap must be a priority
Closing the regional skills gap must be a shared priority for both government and businesses. Regions with limited access to tech training and fewer tech job opportunities risk economic stagnation, reduced social mobility and deepening inequality.
The UK’s broader economic strategy also hinges on regional growth, with the UK government having committed to expanding devolution, relocating civil service jobs and investing in regional infrastructure and green industries. However, without a focus on regional workforce development, these ambitions to rebalance economic opportunity across the country and empower local leadership risk falling short.
For businesses, the implications are just as serious. Skills gaps often stem from difficulties in recruiting qualified candidates. When tech and AI job listings are concentrated in London, tech companies in other regions of the UK face a smaller talent pool, making it harder to future-proof their workforce. These gaps can result in increased pressure on existing employees, reduced innovation and diminished customer satisfaction.
In regions outside of the capital, the lack of access to high-quality training and development programmes heightens these challenges further. Businesses need targeted investment in upskilling and reskilling to remain competitive and align their talent strategies with national growth ambitions.
How businesses can lead the reset
To address the UK’s regional tech skills gap, organisations must take a structured approach to learning and development that ensures access and impact across all geographies. Here’s how to do it:
1. Create clear objectives
Leaders should begin by defining what success looks like, both for their business and individual regions. Objectives might include increasing digital fluency in underrepresented locations, developing power skills to prepare learners for managerial roles and facilitating seamless technology adoption and compliance training to adapt to M&A or industry regulations.
2. Evaluate internal knowledge
Delivering training alone is not enough. Businesses must conduct assessments to understand their workforce’s current proficiencies and weaknesses. Through quizzes, simulations and hands-on projects, they can evaluate how well employees across different regions are retaining new skills and where additional support or reinforcement may be needed.
3. Scrutinise performance metrics
Implementing a learning and development programme and then forgetting about it will only lead to failure. Objectives should be reviewed continuously and adapted depending on business performance and the wider market. This means identifying whether regional teams are applying new skills for problem solving, productivity, project delivery or customer outcomes.
4. Establish a consistent feedback loop
The next step is gathering feedback from organisational users to understand what’s working and what’s not. Employees in regional offices may have different challenges and opinions from leaders located elsewhere, so it’s essential to listen, adapt and ensure continuous programme improvement.
5. Compare outcomes with benchmarks
Tracking progress across teams and regions and against benchmarks helps leaders to evaluate programme effectiveness against their criteria and guarantee learning experiences are relevant and transformative. This comparative view helps ensure no region or business function is left behind.
6. Make continuous improvements
Learning and development should be dynamic and refined over time. The programme should shift with industry standards, organisational needs and the evolving workforce, providing professionals with the skills needed to thrive in a changing business landscape. This includes implementing the latest and greatest learning experiences from AI-powered learning assistants to instructor-led learning and hands-on practice labs. To remain effective, these experiences must be continuously evaluated and iterated upon—leveraging learner feedback, performance data, and emerging technologies. By fostering a culture of curiosity and adaptability, organisations can ensure their workforce remains resilient, future-ready, and aligned with strategic goals.
The time for action is now
Bridging the UK’s regional divide in tech skills and training is a clear call to action for businesses. By embracing data-driven and regionally tailored skilling strategies, including implementing blended learning experiences, companies can play a pivotal role in closing the gap and unlocking the full potential of the UK’s dynamic workforce.
As the pace of technological change accelerates, the urgency to act grows as demand for skilled professionals across fields like AI, cybersecurity and cloud computing rises. But with this urgency comes opportunity. By investing in regional talent development today, organisations can position themselves as leaders in innovation and tap into new talent pools to drive business growth and contribute to more balanced economic progress across the UK.
Darren has more than 25 years of global leadership experience, with a focus on technical education and skilling initiatives within both the public and private sector.
He most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of QA, one of the United Kingdom’s largest providers of IT and digital skills solutions, where he led the rollout of the strategic company vision and handled the day-to-day business operations across a variety of disciplines. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of the Learning Services division of Capita Group, leading more than 1,000 employees. Previously, he was a Managing Partner at ShiftPoint ME, a digital enablement consultancy, and CEO of Restrata LLC, a security and risk technology subscription business.
Darren holds a degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Wales, Cardiff.
