Launch of the UK Standard Skills Classification

A new comprehensive way of identifying and describing skills needs will help employers, training providers, job seekers, and people looking to upskill to get the best from the system.

The UK Standard Skills Classification (SSC) offers the most detailed, data-driven picture yet of the UK labour market. It is an innovative new tool that will make it much easier to match people to job opportunities and target skills investment where it matters most.

Created by the University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research (IER) and the University of Sheffield, in partnership with Omnifolio on behalf of Skills England, the SSC is a standardised set of categories that identify the skills, knowledge and tasks required across UK occupations.

The SSC is available through the UK Skills Explorer Digital tool. It is intended to ensure that skills development is targeted, effective, and accessible to everyone, by enabling skills development opportunities to be identified and barriers addressed.

Peter Elias CBE, Professor of Employment Research, The University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research, said:

For the first time in the UK we now have a common and comprehensive language via which we can talk about skills and exchange data and information. Given that occupational skills are continually evolving we are providing a classification which is both flexible and robust.”

The launch of the first version of the SSC is a significant step forward in how we think about and discuss skills in the UK.