About us

Who we are

We’re a proud member of WorldSkills, a global movement of over 80 countries. WorldSkills supports young people across the world via competitions-based training, assessment and benchmarking, with members’ national teams ultimately testing their ability to achieve world-class standards in the biennial ‘skills olympics’. The insights we gain from training as part of this global network enables us to embed world-class training standards across the UK to help drive investment, jobs and economic growth.

Vision

We believe in the value and prestige of technical education and its potential to empower young people and drive growth.

Photo of 3 members of Team UK holding flag at Kazan 2019

Mission

To embed world-class training standards across the UK to improve the quality of apprenticeships and technical education for the benefit of all young people and business. WorldSkills UK is a four nations partnership between education, industry and UK governments. It is a world-class skills network acting as a catalyst for:

Photo of WorldSkills Educator working in partnership

Raising standards through international benchmarking and professional development

Championing future skills through analysis of rapidly changing economic demand

Empowering young people from all backgrounds, through competitions-based training

Our values:

We are driven by excellence

We deliver excellence in UK skills at a global level. Our ambitions for young people are mirrored in the standards we set ourselves. We take pride in our reputation for quality, aim high, and support each other to be the best we can be.

We innovate with purpose

We work at our best in a spirit of joint endeavour and collaboration. We create space to listen, share, challenge, celebrate achievements and learn from setbacks. We create a respectful, dynamic and inclusive environment where colleagues are able to achieve their potential.

We are people-centred and professional

We build positive, collaborative relationships with colleagues as well as stakeholders. We seek to understand each other’s priorities, show kindness and respect in our interactions, and to build trust and clarity through honest and open communication.

Our Impact

165,000

young people benefitting each year

8,400

of educators benefitted from our CPD

91%

of young people engaging with WorldSkills UK believe it improved their knowledge of technical and vocational training

642m

media circulation each year

100%

of colleges engaged in 24-25

96%

of educators saw a positive impact on the quality of delivery, training, and assessment.

Tenth

place at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, earning 4 medals and 12 Medallions for Excellence

Download our latest Annual Review

Read our latest Annual Review, to find out more about the impressive year of achievements for WorldSkills UK as we continue to work with our partners in UK governments, industry and education to
embed world-class skills across the UK.

Download now

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

We’re passionate about diversity and inclusion because we want to help as many young people as possible, from all backgrounds, get the best start in work and life.

Learn more

Leadership and governance

Our leadership team

The senior leadership team is the formal management group to lead and develop WorldSkills UK as an independent charity.

Meet the team

Our board

Our Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall governance of the charity and company limited by guarantee.

Meet the board

zoomed out aeriel shot at worldskills uk live

Annual accounts and reviews

Each year we are independently audited to ensure that we have used our public funding appropriately and with proper controls and care. We also produce an annual review to demonstrate the impact we’ve made.

Read our accounts

Young people competing in Wall and Floor Tiling competition

Procurement

As a registered charity and custodian of public funding, we have an obligation to ensure that we use our resources responsibly and that we achieve best value of money.