UK expands AI Skills Boost: practical training for every public sector team
The UK government reports that more than one million AI training courses have been completed since the AI Skills Boost launched in June 2025. The goal is straightforward: build a workforce that is skilled, confident and ready to use AI well.
A growing set of short, industry-built courses is now live on the government's AI Skills Hub. Each takes under 20 minutes and is open to all UK adults. The focus is practical-drafting text, creating content, and handling admin tasks-so teams can save time and shift effort to higher-value work.
Why this matters for government
The programme is being actively promoted to NHS staff and local government employees as part of a plan to reach 10 million workers this decade. DSIT says that's close to a third of the UK workforce, including at least two million employees in small and mid-sized organisations.
As the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall, put it: "We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI... We will protect people from the risks of AI while ensuring everyone can share in its benefits. That starts with giving people the skills and confidence they need to seize the opportunities AI brings, putting the power and control into their hands."
Quality, speed and recognition
Phil Smith, chair of Skills England and co-chair of the Digital Skills Council, said: "AI is moving at an incredible pace and presents huge opportunity for productivity and growth... It's also a huge step forward that everyone who completes these short courses will get digital badges that properly recognise what they've learned."
Those digital badges make this easy to track across departments. They can sit in PDPs, support internal mobility, and help managers quickly see who can apply AI safely for day-to-day tasks.
Who's involved
Founding partners (June 2025) included:
- Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google
- IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS
New partners now on board:
- British Chambers of Commerce, Cisco, Cognizant, Confederation of British Industry
- Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Federation of Small Businesses
- Institute of Directors, Local Government Association, Multiverse, NHS
- Pax8, TechUK
Alongside this, DSIT has committed £27m to connect people to local tech jobs and create new professional practice courses and graduate traineeships.
Stephen Flaherty, CTO at Barclays, said: "Having rolled out AI access to 100,000 Barclays colleagues globally, we are seeing first-hand the benefits the technology can unlock when it is used thoughtfully and responsibly... By supporting practical, accessible training at scale, this programme can help ensure innovation delivers real value for workers, businesses and the wider economy."
Key facts at a glance
- 1M+ course completions since June 2025
- Courses are online, open to all UK adults, and take under 20 minutes
- Target: 10 million workers trained this decade (around one-third of the UK workforce)
- £27m in funding for jobs, courses and traineeships
What public sector teams can do next
- Pick three routine tasks per team-meeting notes, briefing drafts, casework admin-and match them to relevant short courses.
- Schedule a weekly 20-minute "AI slot" for staff to complete a module and trial one workflow improvement.
- Ask staff to add their digital badges to PDPs and project teams; recognise completions in line manager check-ins.
- Set simple guardrails: no sensitive data in prompts, follow information security classifications, and use approved tools.
- Run small pilots, measure time saved and quality, document prompts/templates, and share them across your directorate.
- Signpost the training to partners and suppliers-especially SMEs-to raise capability across your delivery chain.
- Explore funding routes and local skills partnerships to support priority teams and roles.
Where to find the training
Learn more about the programme and policy context via DSIT: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Optional resources for structured upskilling
If your team needs curated learning paths by role, see:
Your membership also unlocks:
