Charities and voluntary organisations in the UK are losing an estimated £28 million each year due to inefficient staff training, according to data from compliance training provider Skillcast. The sector accounts for 1.45 million lost training hours annually, ranking fifth highest among the industries surveyed.
Charity, voluntary, and social enterprise organisations recorded more lost hours, unrealised spend, and full-time role impacts than sectors such as manufacturing, information and communications, and financial services. While the £28 million loss is substantial, it remains lower than business services, which reported over £65 million in unrealised spend across 3.3 million lost training hours. Overall, the national total exceeded £416 million, with much of the training failing to improve workforce effectiveness.
The report found that around 40% of the charity sector had relevant training coverage, which is relatively high compared to other sectors, with central government finance bodies leading at 50%. However, the sector had the second-highest workforce development gap at 45%, indicating a large proportion of training is spent on basic maintenance rather than skill enhancement. On a positive note, its skills gap density was the second-lowest at 2.9%, only surpassed by the information and communications sector.
Skillcast examined training load, coverage, and proficiency across 11 key industries to identify where investment in training did not translate into workforce capability. The findings highlight that charities can improve efficiency by using existing knowledge and digital tools to tailor training.
Skillcast CEO Vivek Dodd emphasized that true efficiency comes from targeting training intelligently, ensuring experienced staff are not repeating material they already know. Customised training allows organisations to reinvest time and resources into high-value skills development, improving overall workforce capability and reducing wasted spend.
