In the UK, there are 576,000 people in paid employment in the sector, accounting for almost 2% of the UK workforce. 

• England – 479,900 people, accounting for 83% of UK sector employment
• Wales – 27,000, accounting for 5%
• Scotland – 52,800, accounting for 9%
• Northern Ireland – 16,300, accounting for 3%

In addition, there are over 5 million volunteers in the sector across the UK and much of the sector would find it difficult to operate without the help of unpaid staff.  An estimated further 1.3 million volunteers are needed.

There are 230,708 organisations throughout the UK in public, private and voluntary sectors.  82% of the workforce are employed in small and micro businesses.  In England, the sector has an estimated gross value added (GVA) output of £7.2 billion, 61% of which was produced by the sport and recreation industry.  The outdoors was the smallest industry creating £365 million of output.  Overall the Active Leisure and Learning sector accounts for 0.9% of total output in England.

89% of the workforce in England are employees and 11% self-employed, which is similar to the English workforce as a whole with 13% self-employed.  However, this can vary by industry.  For example the caravan industry has 16% self-employment.  The sector overall does have a significantly higher proportion of part-time workers – 52% compared to 26% across England as a whole.

Over the next 10 years, it is predicted that the sector will grow faster than the economy as a whole.  It is forecast that by 2014, employment levels in England will have increased by 100,000, an increase of 21%.  The sector will also have to recruit 85,000 annually to cope with replacement demand.

Source: Skills Needs Assessment – England 2005, Skills Needs Assessment – Wales 2005, Skills Needs Assessment – Scotland 2005 and Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland 2005

Keywords
Gross value added (GVA) is the difference between the value of goods and services produced and the cost of raw materials and other inputs which are used up in production.

 Source: Skills Needs Assessment – England 2005, figure 3.2.2a.  Data from Experian (2005) using the Labour Force Survey.

Skills gaps affect 16% of establishments in the Active Leisure and Learning sector in England, which equates to 17,000 employees in the SkillsActive workforce with skills weaknesses.  Skill gaps exist where employers regard some of their staff as not being fully proficient to meet the requirements of the job. 

In England, the number of skill gaps exceeds the number of skill shortage vacancies reported by employers.  Skills gaps are similar to those reported for skill shortage vacancies and include: customer handling skills; communication skills; and team working skills. 

Across the UK, there is a shortage of applicants with:

• communication skills (40% of establishments with a hard to fill vacancy)
• team working skills (38%)
• customer handling skills (33%)
• technical and practical skills (28%)
• problem solving skills (27%)

The sector is forecast to grow over the next 10 years by 21%.  Forecasts do not, however, predict significant changes to the profile of the workforce, or to the occupational structure or to qualification levels: suggesting more of a shift in the numbers required.

Employers in the sector are more likely to report that hard-to-fill vacancies are caused by aspects of the job such as: poor terms and conditions; and patterns of shift work.  Recruitment difficulties can be described by the following figures:

• 19% of all establishments report vacancies
• 8% of all establishments report hard-to-fill vacancies
• 3% of all establishments report skill shortage.
• 41% of establishments with vacancies report hard-to-fill vacancies
• 35% of establishments with hard-to-fill vacancies report skills shortage vacancies

Source: Skills Needs Assessment – England 2005, SkillsActive regional fact sheets and Spilsbury Research/SkillsActive 2004 (from the National Employer Skills Survey 2004)

For further information on vacancies in the sector see:

There is some evidence of skills shortages in the sector including:

• the industry is likely to need higher levels of management and business skills
• instructors will have to become more highly qualified to give instruction in areas of GP referrals, cardiac rehabilitation and so on, improving the professionalism of service delivery when working as personal trainers
• customer service and communication skills need to be improved – the industry needs to be perceived as more professional which will involve more specialised sales and marketing employees with improved customer service skills
• the larger the employer, the more likely they are to report each of current vacancies, hard-to-fill vacancies and skill shortages, but a large proportion of actual vacancies are amongst the smallest firms

This suggests the sector needs a better trained workforce in the future, with more demand for well qualified personnel.

Source: SkillsActive regional fact sheets, Spilsbury Research/SkillsActive 2004 and Prospects website 2004

See Occupations for future specific occupational skills needs in the Active Leisure and Learning sector.