Every organisation today is in some form of digital transformation. Whether it is a global manufacturer introducing automation, a council redesigning public services, or a creative agency managing client experiences online, the demand for digital talent has never been higher.
Yet across the UK, employers report a growing gap between technical proficiency and human understanding. Many teams are rich in data analysts, coders, and developers, but lack people who can connect those systems to the needs of the end user. This is the UX skills gap; a shortage of people who combine design thinking, problem-solving, and digital capability.
Beyond Coding: The Human Side of Digital Transformation
In 2024, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) identified design thinking, user experience, and accessibility as among the most in-demand digital competencies across UK employers. The Design Council’s “Design Economy” report (2022) reinforced this by showing that firms that integrate design into their business processes grow twice as fast as those that do not.
Despite this evidence, many organisations still see digital skills as synonymous with software development. Developers build systems, but designers make them work for people. Without that bridge, even the best technology can fail to deliver value.
As Margaret Calvert OBE, the designer behind the UK’s road signage system, once explained, “Design is not just what it looks like, but how it works.” That sentiment captures the essence of UX design as functionality, empathy, and clarity.
What the UX Skills Gap Looks Like in Practice
Across multiple sectors, the gap appears in similar ways:
- Engineering and manufacturing firms produce highly capable digital systems but struggle with user adoption because interfaces are overly complex.
- Public sector organisations roll out new online services only to discover that accessibility and navigation barriers prevent uptake.
- Creative agencies design beautiful campaigns that fail to convert because user journeys have not been tested or mapped properly.
The LinkedIn Future of Skills Report (2024) found that “UX design” and “service design” are among the fastest-growing specialisms globally, but they remain underrepresented in UK training pipelines. In short, the economy is creating digital experiences faster than it is producing people who can make them usable.
Design Thinking as a Workforce Capability
Design thinking provides a structure for tackling complex problems. It moves teams through stages of empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing. These are not artistic skills but organisational ones.
Companies like BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, and Sellafield Ltd are already using design thinking to improve safety-critical processes, enhance communication, and optimise training through simulation. In the service sector, organisations such as NHS Digital have applied similar methods to redesign patient pathways and staff-facing interfaces.
When staff understand these principles, they are better equipped to improve their own systems, whether that means rethinking a workflow, simplifying a dashboard, or testing a new digital tool with colleagues.
The Cost of Not Closing the Gap
According to UKCES and DCMS research, poor user experience and process design cost British organisations billions each year in lost productivity and rework. A 2023 McKinsey Digital report found that 70 percent of digital transformation projects fail to reach their goals, often because of “unclear user needs and poor adoption.”
These failures are not technical; they are human. Investing in design capability across the workforce creates systems that people understand, trust, and use effectively.
Why Employers Need Design Thinkers
Design thinkers are translators. They connect technical capability with human insight. They ask why, not just how. In organisations where technology moves faster than culture, that skill becomes invaluable.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 lists analytical thinking, creativity, and empathy among the top five future workforce skills. UX professionals combine all three.
By nurturing design thinkers, employers gain staff who can:
- Analyse real user needs before investing in technology
- Test and improve internal systems continuously
- Build bridges between IT, communications, and operations
- Align projects with business value and human outcomes
This mix of analytical and creative skills is what modern organisations need to stay competitive.
Apprenticeships as a Strategic Solution
One practical way to build this capability is through apprenticeships in UX and digital design. Apprenticeships combine structured academic learning with real project delivery, allowing employers to develop skills from within.
The Digital UX Apprenticeship at the University of Cumbria is designed for this purpose. Delivered entirely online, it enables staff to work and learn simultaneously, gaining expertise in usability, accessibility, service design, and research. Employers gain measurable impact from projects completed during the apprenticeship.
By investing in apprenticeships, employers can close the UX gap not by hiring externally but by empowering their existing workforce to think and work differently.
Designing a Future Workforce
The UK’s digital economy depends on more than code. It depends on people who can understand complexity, simplify it, and make technology meaningful. Design thinkers are those people.
By embedding UX and design thinking across teams, organisations can improve efficiency, safety, and satisfaction, and ensure that innovation is truly used, not just implemented.
To learn how the Digital UX Apprenticeship can help your organisation build these future-facing skills, visit the University of Cumbria website or contact the Digital Apprenticeships team.
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