skills
economy
Training and workforce development in the South West of England
This data insights describes how employers in the South West invest in developing their workforce.
While around six in ten establishments provide training overall, the intensity of training provision varies across sectors. Health and social work, and information and communication stand out for particularly high training engagement.
The South West region is one of 12 International Territorial Level 1 areas (ITL1) in the UK. It comprises Gloucestershire and Wiltshire; West of England; North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset; Devon; and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.
The indicators are drawn from the Employer Skills Survey (Department for Education), a national survey based on telephone interviews with employers. This robust methodology captures employer-reported information on training activity, skills development practises, and workforce investments across industries. By combining participation rates with measures of training intensity, this section provides a comprehensive picture of workforce development trends in the South West and how they compare across sectors and over time.
+6.1 pp
65.7% of South West establishments provided training, compared with 59.6% in England, 2022/23
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South West training provision peaked at 68.8% in 2017, declining to 59.7% in 2024
4.17
Average training days per employee in the South West, higher than England (3.52), 2023/24
1.96
Trainees receive nearly two more training days that employees in the South West, 2023/24
Establishments providing staff training (%), South West, 2022/23
This visualisation shows the percentage of establishments providing staff training in 2022-2023, comparing the South West with England averages across 3 categories: any training, on-the-job training and off-the-job training.
Overall, the South West reports higher training provision than England in all categories. Around 66.7% of South West establishments provided training, compared with 59.6% in England.
A similar pattern is seen for on-the-job training with 53.4% of establishments in the South West offering this compared to 48.9% nationally. Off-the-job training follows the same trend with 46.3% in the South West versus 39.3% in England.
In both regions, establishments are more likely to provide on-the-job training than off-the-job training, suggesting a stronger emphasis on workplace-based developments.
Training days per employee and trainee in the South West, 2022/23
This visualisation shows the average number of training days per employee and per trainee in 2022-2023, comparing the South West with England averages.
Overall, the South West records higher training intensity on both measures. Employees in the South West receive an average of 4.17 days of training per year compared with 3.52 days in England; a difference of 0.65 days.
The gap is smaller for trainees, with 6.13 days in the South West verses 5.86 days nationally. In both regions, trainees receive more training days than the average employee, suggesting training is more concentrated among those formally identified as ‘trainees’.
The difference between employee and trainee training days is around 2 days in each region, indicating a similar training structure despite regional variation.
Establishments providing staff training (%) in the South West, 2011 onwards
This visualisation shows the percentage of South West establishments providing staff training from 2011-2024. Training provision increased between 2011 (64.6%) and 2013 (68.4%), before dipping slightly in 2015 (66.1%) then peaking in 2017 (68.8%).
Since 2017, there has been a steady decline with the proportion of establishments providing training falling to a low 59.7% in 2024 (-9 percentage points (pp)).
Compared with the earlier part of the decade, when rates consistently exceeded 65%, the most recent years show a sustained downward trend.
Training days per employee/trainee in the South West, 2011 onwards
This visualisation shows the average number of training days per employee and per trainee in the South West from 2011-2024.
Training days per employee increased from 3.72 days in 2011 to a peak of 4.65 days in 2015, before falling to 3.32 days and 2019 and then recovering slightly to 3.9 days in 2024.
A similar pattern is observed for trainees, with training days rising from 6.73 in 2011 to 6.89 in 2015, dropping to 5.54 in 2019 and then reaching 6.93 in 2024, the highest level across the period.
Throughout all the years, trainees consistently received around 2-3 more training days than the average employee. The sharpest dip for both categories occurred between 2015 and 2019, suggesting a period of reduced training investment.
