About us

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Raising workforce skills - download our brochure here.

Our core work

Asset Skills works to improve productivity, efficiency and effectiveness in facilities management, housing, property, planning, cleaning and parking.

We do this by working with employers to ensure their staff have the skills they need to do their work well. We focus on three core activities:

• Qualifications - We make sure all careers across the footprint are backed by sound occupational standards. These are descriptions of what you need to know and do in a particular job. They form the basis of qualifications such as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) (SVQs in Scotland) or those run by professional bodies.
• Employer engagement - This is at the heart of our work. Although licensed by Government, we are employer led with no civil servants on our boards. Our teams work with employers to identify skills gaps and try and find solutions.
• Labour Market Information - Good research with a practical slant means we can understand better what is happening in terms of markets, working practices and technological change. This helps ensure we have a strategy designed to be of practical help as well as a source of information for employers.

UK wide remit

We are a UK wide organisation with representation and employer boards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We recognise that to be fully effective, solutions need to be tailored to individual business needs and will vary by country and region.

Asset Skills also leads the alliance of Sector Skills Councils on promoting general workplace or "employability" training in all industries.

The National Strategic Skills Audit 2010 

Business services, including facilities management and cleaning, are highlighted as an emerging 'key sector' for future economic growth. The National Strategic Skills Audit 2010, commissioned by the government and published by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, claims the industry is expected to account for more than one third of total jobs growth over the next few years. Read more here.

The Leitch Review

Lord Leitch's "Prosperity for all in the Global Economy: World Class Skills" focused on the UK's long term skills needs and set out ambitious goals for 2020. The report recommended far-reaching reform and said the UK must urgently raise achievements at all levels of skills. Responsibility for achieving this must be shared between Government, employers and individuals. Read it here.

If you are an employer and would like to help shape the type of training available in your industry contact us at info@assetskills.org or call 0845 678 2 888 (local rate call). [c2test edit]