Welcome

The Basic Skills Agency is the national development centre for literacy and numeracy in England and Wales.

We're a part of NIACE, the country's leading NGO for lifelong learning, and we work closely with Tribal Ltd. Our patron is Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal.

By "basic skills" we mean:

"the ability to read, write and speak English/Welsh and use mathematics at a level necessary to function and progress at work and in society in general."

We work across sectors and age groups and take a coherent "cradle to grave" approach to improving standards.

Our focus is on innovation, development, advice and dissemination.

In Wales we're responsible for supporting Basic Skills Cymru in delivering the Welsh Assembly Government's "cradle to grave" National Basic Skills Strategy.