Insight Report: Employers in the Creative Sector Voices on Training Programs: 2025 Overview
Creative Industries Embrace Opportunities for Skills Development
A new report reveals that the creative industries face several challenges when it comes to engaging with skills initiatives, but there are also opportunities for improvement.
One of the main challenges is the high costs associated with delivering apprenticeships for small firms. Additionally, inflexible apprenticeship duration requirements and the project-based, freelance nature of creative work make it difficult to schedule industry placements. The limited pool of specialized training providers also poses a problem.
Despite these barriers, there are ongoing initiatives to improve apprenticeship engagement in the creative sector. The UK Department for Education is collaborating with industry stakeholders to develop more flexible and portable apprenticeship models that are better suited to the creative sector’s unique structure.
Apprenticeships and internships offer practical, industry-embedded learning, where apprentices gain hands-on experience, mentorship, and formal qualifications while working alongside professionals. Employers see value in apprenticeships as a way to develop talent directly aligned to workplace needs, provide real-world work experience, and expand the future creative workforce.
Creative Alliance, a social enterprise supporting creative apprenticeships, has demonstrated the demand and effectiveness of apprenticeship models in the sector. They have delivered industry-relevant apprenticeships with high achievement rates and strong employer partnerships.
The creative industries are increasingly recognized as pivotal to future workforce skills, especially as AI reshapes work environments and increases demand for creativity, adaptability, and critical thinking — skills that apprenticeships can help develop.
In summary, the challenges include high costs for small firms, inflexible duration requirements, project-based and freelance nature complicating scheduling, and limited specialized training provision. The opportunities include the development of flexible apprenticeship frameworks, practical work-based training benefits, strong employer-led programs and social enterprises supporting apprenticeships, and aligned with growing demand for creativity in future work. Employer benefits include talent development, work experience provision, workforce growth, and industry-specific skill training.
The Government's new Industrial Strategy sets a long-term, sector-focused approach to skills, aiming to boost opportunity, support economic growth, and ensure a strong pipeline of talent for priority sectors like the creative industries. Co-design of skills programs is essential to ensure they meet industry requirements and give learners preparation for work.
References:
- UK Government (2023). Creative Industries Apprenticeship Strategy. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creative-industries-apprenticeship-strategy/creative-industries-apprenticeship-strategy
- Creative Skillset (2024). The Role of Apprenticeships in the Creative Industries. [online] Available at: https://www.creativeskillset.org/research/the-role-of-apprenticeships-in-the-creative-industries/
- Creative Alliance (2025). Success Stories: Creative Apprenticeships. [online] Available at: https://creativealliance.uk/success-stories/
- Nesta (2025). The Future of Work in the Creative Industries. [online] Available at: https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/future-work-creative-industries/
- World Economic Forum (2025). The Future of Jobs Report. [online] Available at: https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025
- The high costs of delivering apprenticeships for small firms in the creative industries pose a significant challenge, as outlined in the UK Government's Creative Industries Apprenticeship Strategy.
- The limited pool of specialized training providers in the creative industries is a problem, a topic discussed in Creative Skillset's research on the role of apprenticeships.
- The flexible and portable apprenticeship models being developed by the UK Department for Education, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, could address the inflexible duration requirements currently hindering apprenticeship engagement in creative industries, as mentioned in the same strategy.
- Creative Alliance, a social enterprise supporting creative apprenticeships, provides an example of delivering industry-relevant apprenticeships, as detailed in their Success Stories: Creative Apprenticeships.
- The future of work in the creative industries is reshaping due to AI, increasing the demand for creativity, adaptability, and critical thinking — skills that apprenticeships can help develop, as suggested by Nesta's report on the future of work in the creative industries.
- Employers recognize value in apprenticeships for creative industries, not just as a way to develop talent directly aligned with workplace needs, but also to provide real-world work experience, expand the future creative workforce, and capitalize on the benefits of education-and-self-development initiatives, as indicated by the general news and policy-and-legislation related to the sector.
- As the creative industries are pivotal to future workforce skills, the Government's new Industrial Strategy focuses on a long-term, sector-focused approach to skills, aiming to boost opportunity, support economic growth, and ensure a strong pipeline of talent for priority sectors like the creative industries, as explained in the Industrial Strategy.
- To ensure success, co-design of skills programs is essential to meet industry requirements, give learners preparation for work, and align with the changing nature of the creative industries, as advocated for in the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report.
