LONDON, June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite, the UK's largest trade union, has criticised the Government for reneging on a proposal that would have given workers the right to paid time off for training.

Under new proposals outlined last week, from 2010, employees will be entitled to request time off work for training after six months in a job. However, Skills Minister David Lammy has stated that employers would not be obliged to pay an employee's salary while they were undertaking training, neither would they be obliged to organise or pay for the training.

Commenting on the minister's statement Graham Goddard, Deputy General Secretary of Unite, said;

"Once again the government has given in to employer pressure. A right to request time off for training is meaningless. The biggest barrier to workers accessing learning or training opportunities is lack of time. That's why Unite has demanded to make paid time off for training a legal right. This lets employers and business off the hook and will do nothing to address the UK's chronic skills shortages."

The UK economy suffers from a serious lack of skills. Seven million adults lack basic literacy and numeracy skills and six million lack the immediate skills that are vital for advancing their careers. Unite recognises that the UK cannot compete in cost terms with low-wage countries like China and that we need a highly skilled and educated workforce if we are going succeed in the future.

Relying on employers to meet the education and training needs of the UK's workforce has not worked. In fact 40 per cent of employers provide no training whatsoever. Unite believes that only when there is a legal compulsion for employers to allow their workers paid time off for education and training will there be an improvement in the current situation. The Government have missed the boat again.

Unite recognises that individuals who do return to learning experience an increase in confidence and motivation. These are the characteristics that employers want in their workers and will lead to an increase in productivity.

At present only employees aged 16 and 17 can take 'reasonable time off' (e.g. one day a week) to take Level 2 qualifications - that's NVQs or GCSEs. Unfortunately it's not just teenagers that lack Level 2 qualifications - a third of the workforce have few or no recognised qualifications. The UK is around the bottom of the EU league table when it comes to statutory rights for paid time off.

Media contact: Brian Gallagher, Communications, +44(0)7957995947