The digital skills gap: What it is and how to close it in 2025

The digital skills gap remains one of the most pressing challenges facing organisations in the UK; with future.now reporting that as many as 21 million working-age adults across the country needing support to build essential digital skills for work.

Not only can the digital skills gap lead to missed opportunities, reduced productivity, and ultimately stalled growth, it’s a costly issue too. A report from the City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI) at the University of Birmingham found that the digital skills shortage is posing a critical threat to the nation’s economic stability and growth, with a potential cost of £27.6 billion to the UK economy by 2030.

But this doesn’t have to be an inevitability. With the right approach, organisations can not only close the digital skills gap, but they can unlock the potential of technology, future-proof their workforce, and stay ahead of the curve.

In this article, we are going to take a look at what the digital skills gap is, and how it can be addressed in 2025.

 

What Is the Digital Skills Gap?

Put simply, the digital skills gap refers to the difference between what skills employers need, and what skills their teams currently have. It spans everything from basic digital literacy through to advanced data analysis, automation, and fluency with AI.

The digital skills gap poses serious challenges to economic development, digital inclusion, and career advancement.

 

Four Ways to Close the Digital Skills Gap in 2025

While the digital skills gap is a very real challenge for businesses, it’s also one that can be overcome. Here are some practical ways to start closing the digital skills gap within your organisation in 2025:

 

1. Assess where you are today

Before you can close the digital skills gap, you need to understand it.

Assess how your people are working with tools and technology today and identify any gaps in maturity before you commit to learning programmes, support desks, or any other digital skills opportunities for your staff. Look at devices too, to ensure people have the technology they need to do their jobs effectively.

Then, following the assessment when you have identified where gaps in knowledge really exist, provide a learning programme for staff that actually covers what people really need to know. Based on facts, not assumptions.

(Pssst: With our Digital Maturity Assessment, we can help you identify how your people are actually working, and take the guess work out of what you need to get to your desired future state.)

 

2. Encourage a culture of continuous learning

To bridge the digital skills gap, learning shouldn’t be a one-off, tied to project, with a start and end. It should be continuous, and built into organisational culture.

A culture of continuous learning is when the whole organisation is engaged with learning and personal development. When every employee has a hunger for learning and improving skills, both for their own development and the development of their team. Not just once, but continually throughout their employment.

While closing the digital skills gap is an obvious benefit of this type of culture, it can also help to improve employee motivation, productivity and retention. While keeping employees up to date on the latest technology, and enhancing creativity and innovation within your teams.

An organisation can achieve this culture in a number of ways. By offering ample learning opportunities built into the workday, encouraging peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, and ensuring you measure and monitor the impact of your learning programmes.

 

3. Create an empower a network of Digital Champions

Digital champions networks can play a vital role in bridging the digital skills gap, by empowering people within your organisation to become the drivers for change.

These champions are not necessarily IT experts, but are passionate about helping their colleagues work with technology in new ways. With the right programme, your Champions will be trained to support their peers in adopting new technologies and building digital confidence.

By fostering peer-to-peer learning, digital champions help organisations boost digital literacy at scale, reduce pressure on IT teams, and ensure that technology investments are fully embraced and utilised.

 

4. Measure and track progress

Finally, closing the digital skills gap requires ongoing measurement and progress tracking. It’s not enough to simply deliver training or other learning opportunities and then assume everyone is up-to-speed. Organisations must continually ensure that employees are using digital tools effectively, that productivity is improving, and that newly acquired skills are being applied in meaningful ways. Achieved through regular assessments, feedback loops, and sharing of success stories.

 

Closing the digital skills gap: Looking ahead

The digital skills gap is often a complex challenge. Organisations won’t close it overnight. But, with the right data, a strong culture of continuous learning, and a clear roadmap, organisations can build a workforce that are both digitally confident, and ready to embrace the future of technology.