Two in five (41%) small business managers are failing to use their full holiday allowance, and of this figure, more than one in five employers (22%) cited unskilled staff as a major barrier, reveals research carried out on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) by FreshMinds.

The survey of nearly 500 SMEs also found that whilst nearly all small businesses surveyed (81%) recognise that training is the key to success, a staggering 43% admit that they should focus more on training. Of those employers, a quarter say that they don’t have time to search for suitable training options, and one in five are bewildered by the range of training available.

Jaine Clarke, National Director, Skills for Employers at the Learning and Skills Council, which manages the Train to Gain service, says: “Getting skilled is key to our future as a nation in a global economy.  It is also key to our future individually as the need to better our own skills is becoming even more evident as competition increases.

“That’s why we’ve invested in Train to Gain, designed to drive up the nation’s skills by tackling historic barriers to learning, such as cost and time.  We want it to be as easy as possible for people to access information and understand what help is available for them to get the skills needed to get on in life and business.”