Skip Navigation

The Sector Skills Council for the places where we live and work

Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy (ALLaN)

Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy (ALLaN) and the Skills for Business Network

Asset Skills is the designated lead Sector Skills Council for Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy (ALLaN).

We co-ordinate a UK-wide project to promote the business benefits of ALLaN in the workplace across the SSC network.

The project works closely with Government agencies and other key stakeholders across the four nations to bring together good practice and share it across the 25 SSCs.

It began in September 2004, funded by Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), the forerunner to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

The next phase of the work will focus on:

  • The Skills Pledge in England - A survey of SSCs has started to get feedback on the Skills Pledge, a key part of Lord Leitch's review (more in the "About us" section) and Train to Gain
  • Linking ALLaN and employability
  • Four nations - Involvement in projects/activities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
  • ESOL for Work - Input to research on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and migrant workers, following on from joint events run with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in autumn 2007. A range of ESOL for Work qualifications was launched in 2007 to make English language learning more accessible in the workplace and to garner more employer support.

Additional funding has been provided by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) which has focused on:

  • Job role mapping - Analysis of job descriptions and mapping against the national curricula for adult literacy and numeracy. This will give a better understanding of skills needed to fulfil various job roles.
  • Focus on workplace numeracy - Review of workplace numeracy requirements to encourage employers to see the value of investing in their staffs' basic maths skills.
  • Whole organisation approach  - To encourage SSCs and employers to build literacy, language and numeracy into their human resource practices, including recruitment, selection, induction, promotion and training/development
  • Embedding - Encouraging the writers of National Occupational Standards (NOS) to address literacy/numeracy issues within the standards.  This is to bring to the fore the specific literacy/numeracy elements which are already contained within the standards. We want to make them more explicit to ensure these skills needs are met through vocational learning.

    Activity includes
    • regular meetings for SSCs with presentations on key initiatives and programmes
    • involvement in projects with other sectors
    • development of support material
    • liaison with other agencies working on the ALLaN agenda
    • input to consultations and reviews
    • representation at key groups and meetings
    • develop business case materials to encourage employers to support ALLaN in the workplace