Creative Education, Skills and Talent

The Creative Industries are a UK success story. Between 2011 – 2019, the sector grew at double the rate of the UK economy as a whole, and since 2015 has created 400,000 additional jobs. This success relies on a workforce of talented and motivated creative people, who have the right skills for the right roles.
However, previous Creative PEC research has identified severe skills gaps in the workforce, as well as issues related to a lack of diversity and inclusion in specific Creative Industries sub-sectors.

Creative Education, Skills and Talent is a strand of the State of the Nations research series.

The reports

Creative Industries Employers’ Perspectives on Skills Initiatives: 2025

Launched July 2025

This report looks at who creative employers choose to recruit; what training and skills development programmes they use and why; and their knowledge and perspectives on skills initiatives such as apprenticeships, T Levels and HTQs.

Skills Mismatches in the UK’s Creative Industries

Launched February 2025

This report looks at data around skills needed by employers and skills shortages in the creative industries. It also looks at hard-to-fill vacancies, under-utilised staff, and training provided by creative industries employers, concluding that the sector needs to consider future skills needs too.

Creative Further Education in the four UK nations

Launched July 2024

This report – the fourth in our State of the Nations series – looks at student participation in creative further education (FE) across all four UK nations and shows that there is a severe drop in participation.

As demand for skills grows, it is not being met by increased participation in creative learning. This indicates that there is a pipeline shortage for the UK’s growing creative economy.