Lord Agnew, Chair of the House of Lords special inquiry Numeracy for Life Committee summarises the findings and conclusions of the Committee’s year-long inquiry.
For the past year the cross-party House of Lords Numeracy for Life Committee, which I chair, has been taking evidence to get a clearer picture of the current state of numeracy in the country and how it is impacting the nation from the cradle through to retirement.
After hearing from a range of witnesses including; teachers, academics, charities, education providers, financial experts, Government officials, a Minister and former Prime Minister, the Committee has published its report, ‘Making it Count: Numeracy for Life’.
Our report makes numerous recommendations to the Government to improve numeracy throughout life. We were grateful to have received written and oral evidence from the further and adult education sector and I want to focus on some of their concerns below:
The personal and economic impacts of low numeracy skills
We heard that the UK has made real progress in adult numeracy over the past decade, and there are now between 1 and 1.5 million fewer adults with very low skills than there were a decade ago. Nevertheless, the reality is that 8 million adults still have numeracy skills below those expected of a nine-year-old.
Low numeracy skills have a personal cost. People struggle to understand the financial decisions they are faced with – their loans, mortgages and pensions – and to manage their daily lives, including their health and medication. Without numeracy skills, they cannot access the jobs or training they want, or progress in the jobs they already have. Put simply, it makes it harder to lead a fulfilling life.
Low numeracy also has wider economic costs. As well as restricting access to work, training and progression, it also contributes to skills shortages and reduces earnings and productivity. One estimate suggested that workers with low numeracy earned around 6.5% less than they might with basic numeracy skills, an income differential of up to £25 billion a year across the UK.
Many are undermined by a lack of confidence with numbers, and some simply give up, believing they are ‘not a maths person’. Most importantly, that anxiety can become entrenched in families, and fears are passed onto children.
Ending the intergenerational cycle of poor numeracy
Our report urges the Government to support adults and end the intergenerational cycle of poor numeracy. Due to their experience, expertise and vital partnership work in the community, further and adult education colleges have a key role to play in achieving this, provided they receive the support and funding required.
Whilst achieving a Level 2 qualification should remain an important and accessible destination for adults who need it for work, training or further study, it should not be the sole measure of success. The evidence we heard was clear that, whilst it was difficult to evaluate, the Multiply programme reached adults with low numeracy skills by providing free, flexible maths courses for adults in conjunction with community organisations and local employers. Rishi Sunak, who introduced Multiply as Chancellor of the Exchequer, told us that: “85% of people on Multiply courses would otherwise not have done a numeracy-oriented adult education course”, describing the figure as “pretty striking.”
Building on and learning from the popularity of the Multiply programme, our report calls on the Government to publish a nationwide cross-government adult numeracy strategy for England. The strategy should set long-term objectives, minimum expectations, common outcome measurements and reporting requirements, and establish that every adult should have a clear route from initial engagement and assessment to suitable provision, where appropriate, towards a Level 2 qualification.
We recommend that devolved adult skills authorities should be responsible for delivering the national strategy through their existing skills plans and partnerships. They should assess local skills and employers’ needs; commission short, flexible, contextualised and community-based provision alongside recognised qualification routes; connect those routes through clear referral and progression pathways and report against the national objectives and outcome measures.
Spiral of GCSE resits creating a two-tier system
It is true that there has been significant progress made in maths attainment in schools and this achievement is to be celebrated. However, the reality is that a two-tier system is being created with low achievers at school being trapped in a spiral of GCSE resits. Alarmingly, only one in five 16–19-year-olds who resit the exam achieve a Grade 4. This creates a barrier to further education and employment, reduces future earning capacity, restricts civic engagement and has an impact on the economy.
In her evidence to the Committee, the Skills Minister, Baroness Smith of Malvern, made it clear that GCSE is the ‘Gold Standard’ qualification and what young people should be working towards. Sadly, this blinkered approach will not help those who struggle with the GCSE maths curriculum and are being unfairly set up for failure.
Whilst our inquiry isn’t focussed on curriculum reform, we do call for signposting to all post-16 options to be clear and coherent and most importantly student-focussed. Alternative provision up to Level 2, such as functional skills and the proposed new Level 1 stepping stone qualification, will only have value if they are recognised by educational bodies, employers, parents and carers as an equal alternative to GCSE maths.
Many students enrol at their local college with a Grade 3 in GCSE Maths and receive excellent support through diagnostic assessments and targeted high-quality teaching to help them achieve a Grade 4 in their resits. Our report calls on the Government to provide further education colleges and other post-16 providers with sufficient funding and the specialist teaching capacity they need to continue this crucial support to students.
To help bridge the Grade 3 to Grade 4 knowledge gap, schools should be encouraged to pass information about a learner’s mathematical strengths and gaps to the further education college or provider responsible for their post-16 teaching so they can provide the specific support that students need. There should also be assurances in place that FE colleges are not perversely incentivised to enter students for resits too soon, i.e. in the Autumn when they are not yet ready and a personalised support and learning plan hasn’t been put in place.
Summing up
Numeracy skills impact the everyday life of millions in their work, raising children, buying a home, managing health and finances and preparing for retirement. Our report makes recommendations to the Government to empower people to meet and manage daily tasks and finances with renewed confidence. In turn this will help build the economy.
To highlight the vital role numeracy plays in our families and communities, we recommend the Government launches a National Year of Numeracy to promote and celebrate its importance for all ages.
We look forward to receiving the Government’s response to this and our other recommendations early in 2027 before the report is debated in the House of Lords later next year.
By Lord Agnew, Chair of the House of Lords special inquiry Numeracy for Life Committee
The House of Lords Numeracy for Life Committee report ‘Making it Count: Numeracy for Life’ can be downloaded on the Committee’s website at parliament.uk