- Date published:
- May 2026
- Organisation:
- UK Parliament POST
- Authors:
- Katharine Cheston and Natasha Mutebi
- Themes:
- Adult education
Evidence indicates that lifelong learning helps adults develop their skills. This may become increasingly relevant in the near term because:
• Rapid technological change, including advances in artificial intelligence (AI), is reshaping the labour market and may require people to learn new skills.
• The population is ageing and people are retiring later in life, which may increase demand for upskilling and retraining across longer careers.
• Many young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and so may need support with skills later in life.
This POSTnote focuses on England for education policy and uses UK-wide data for skills.