“Congratulations to Andy Burnham on becoming Prime Minister. We look forward to working with the new Cabinet, including Lucy Powell MP in her new role as Secretary of State for Education and Pat McFadden MP in his continued role overseeing the skills brief, to ensure skills remain at the heart of the UK’s economic future.

We believe that through programmes like ours, there is a real opportunity to equip more young people with the work-ready skills, confidence and resilience employers are looking for, helping them progress into sustained employment while addressing the growing challenge of young people being not in education, employment or training.

The Centre of Excellence, delivered in partnership with NCFE, is already helping hundreds of educators across colleges and independent training providers embed world-class practices, raising standards and improving outcomes for learners across the UK.

As Team UK enters the final stages of preparation for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, with the support of Pearson, we are seeing first-hand the transformative impact of world-class skills training. WorldSkills UK is proud to work alongside Government, employers and education partners to ensure more young people, from all backgrounds, can develop the skills, confidence and ambition to thrive in work, drive innovation and help build a more productive, competitive UK economy.”

Ben Blackledge, Chief Executive, WorldSkills UK