UK firms face AI skills gap as tools outpace training

Slalom has published survey findings showing that 54% of business leaders in the UK and Ireland see the workforce skills gap as the biggest barrier to getting a return on investment from AI. The research also found that 70% of businesses give staff access to AI tools.

Only 48% said their organisations set aside time for employees to experiment with those tools, based on data from 417 respondents in the UK and Ireland. The figures suggest a gap between spending on AI systems and the practical support given to the staff expected to use them.

Earlier findings from the same research project indicate employees are already feeling that gap. In that data, 41% said a lack of effective, structured AI training or time to learn was holding them back at work.

The study focused on organisations that have already started adopting AI or are in the process of doing so. Nearly all respondents globally worked at companies with revenue above USD $500 million, suggesting the findings reflect larger businesses rather than the wider economy.

Training gap

The numbers suggest many companies have moved beyond deciding whether to provide AI tools and are now facing a workforce challenge around use and adoption. Access to software appears to be spreading faster than the time, training and experimentation staff need to use it effectively in day-to-day work.

That matters as business leaders come under pressure to justify AI spending. If workers are not given time to test tools and understand how they fit into existing processes, companies may struggle to show measurable returns even after committing budget to the technology.

There is also a potential governance issue for employers. When staff are expected to increase productivity with AI but are not given formal space to learn, some may turn to unauthorised tools or informal workarounds instead of approved systems.

Caroline Grant, Senior Managing Director at Slalom UK, said the results showed investment had moved ahead of workplace readiness.

She said: "This research showed movement in the market, as there is high investment in AI tools for the workforce. Businesses are clearly no longer waiting on the sidelines to see if AI is something they should spend on. Now they are facing a new problem: an AI skills gap. This research shows the UK has yet to do enough to fix this and give employees time to experiment with a technology that could transform the way they work. Once this adjustment has been made, allowing employees to feel engaged and in control of AI at work, the potential for UK businesses is huge."

Adoption pressure

The findings add to a broader debate over whether AI rollouts are being judged too heavily by procurement and access rather than by practical use inside companies. Many businesses have introduced tools across teams, but the survey suggests protected time for learning remains less common.

That imbalance may be especially relevant in larger organisations, where introducing new technology often involves changes to workflow, oversight and staff responsibilities. Without time to explore how tools should be used, employees may be left to fit AI into existing workloads rather than adopt it in a structured way.

One respondent quoted in the findings said setting aside time had been central to making AI useful in practice. The comment came from a company that had already taken that approach with staff.

Shahen Bokhari, AI product portfolio lead at TP ICAP, said: "What stands out in this research is not the level of investment in AI tools, but the lack of protected time for people to actually work out how to use them well. At TP ICAP, we made a conscious decision to give colleagues the space to explore, test and challenge how AI could support their day-to-day work. That time investment proved critical. It accelerated adoption, built real ownership, and helped us translate technology into tangible business benefits. If organisations want to close the gap between AI ambition and AI return, giving people time, not just tools, has to be part of the equation."

The wider global survey covered 2,000 executives, leaders and subject matter experts across five countries. Of those, 417 respondents were from the UK and Ireland, with the rest drawn from the US, Canada and Germany.

Globally, 71% of respondents worked for companies already actively engaged in AI initiatives, while 30% were at companies that had started the adoption process. More than half were final decision-makers or shared decision-makers on AI investment.

The UK and Ireland findings show that while access to AI tools is becoming common, time to use them remains far less certain, with only 48% of businesses saying employees are given room to experiment.