28.01.2026

Free AI foundations training for all workers expanded by government to upskill 10 million people

Every adult in the UK is eligible to take free, newly benchmarked courses to gain practical AI skills for work – as the joint government and industry programme sees a major expansion to upskill 10 million workers.

In order to make Britain the fastest adopting AI country in the G7, the UK is setting ambitious targets to ensure the workforce is adequately skilled, confident and ready to grasp the full opportunities of AI. This could create more higher-skilled jobs and free workers up from routine tasks, with increasing the adoption of AI potentially unlocking up to £140 billion in annual economic output.

A selection of industry-developed AI courses, newly available on government’s AI Skills Hub, have been checked against Skills England’s AIfoundation skills for work benchmark, with those who complete these courses receiving a virtual AI foundations badge.

Open to all UK adults online, taking as little as under 20 minutes, the courses will give people the skills needed to use simple AI tools effectively in the workplace and teach the use of AI for tasks like drafting text, creating content and completing administrative tasks, to free up time to focus on other work. This training will give both workers and employers confidence in their new skills, and set standards for what good AI upskilling looks like. The programme has already delivered one million courses since June.

NHS workers and local government employees will be among those to benefit. Major public sector, business representative organisations, and industry partners onboarding – including Britain’s biggest employer, the NHS – is enabling government to raise the ambition to now reach 10 million workers this decade. This is equivalent to upskilling nearly a third of this country’s workforce and includes reaching at least two million SME employees.

Recognising that AI will bring changes to jobs and work as we know it, the Tech Secretary is also launching the new AI and the Future of Work Unit to remain front-footed in addressing inevitable challenges.

Backed by a panel of experts from business and trade unions, the unit will provide the best analysis and evidence on AI’s impact on the economy and labour market to provide timely advice on when new policies should be implemented across government. It will ensure the AI transition boosts economic growth, supports workers to adapt, protects communities from the mistakes of past industrial change, and delivers a fair, dignified future of work for everyone, where people are supported into better jobs in a more productive economy.

Research published today finds only 21% of UK workers feel confident using AI at work, and adoption remains low with only one in six UK businesses using AI as of mid-2025. UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) report a lower rate of AI adoption, with micro businesses 45% less likely to adopt AI than large businesses (note).

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall, will take to the stage at Bloomberg HQ in London today (Wednesday 28 January). As part of her speech, she will confirm the following:

New partners - British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Cisco, Cognizant, Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Department for Education (DfE), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Institute of Directors (IOD) - Local Government Association (LGA), Multiverse, NHS, Pax8 and techUK will unlock AI upskilling for even more workers.

They will join the esteemed ranks of founding partners - Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS and Salesforce to take the AI Skills Boost programme to the next level and upskill 10 million workers with AI skills by 2030.

£27 million funding announced to kickstart government’s TechLocal scheme – part of the £187 million TechFirst programme – which will help employers fill or create up to 1,000 tech jobs in communities across the UK, and enable new professional practice courses, graduate traineeships, and work experience opportunities in AI.

Government has launched offers to apply for the Spärck AI Scholarship at nine UK Universities. The scholarships will give up to 100 talented AI and STEMMaster’s students access to industry partnerships, work placements and mentorship opportunities throughout their studies, alongside covering both tuition and living expenses.

This comes alongside government’s Skills for Life digital skills offer. The campaign provides easy access to thousands of free or government subsidised courses covering the essential digital skills people need for work and life, and digital skills people need to be able to take the next step towards a career in technology. AI is one of the pillars of the digital tech sector plan as part of the Industrial Strategy.