Nearly Half of UK Employers Step Up In-House Talent Development, CIPD Report Finds

Nearly half of UK employers (48%) have stepped up efforts to develop talent in-house over the past year, according to the CIPD's Resourcing and talent planning report 2026, supported by Omni RMS. For health and safety professionals, that's welcome news with one important catch. Every person you upskill, redeploy or promote into unfamiliar work is, in risk terms, a new starter all over again.

If you haven't come across it before, this is the CIPD's annual survey of UK resourcing practice, now in its 25th year. The 2026 edition drew on responses from 1,014 HR and people professionals, polled by YouGov in April and May 2026. It arrives as the labour market cools, hiring budgets tighten and employers prepare for changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Key Takeaways

• 48% of UK employers have increased efforts to develop talent in-house over the last year.
• 91% are already upskilling existing staff to close skills gaps, or considering it.
• 58% report more unsuitable candidates, and 53% of recruiting employers struggled to attract applicants.
• Moving people into new roles triggers fresh training duties under Regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
• Safety competence belongs inside the workforce plan, not alongside it.

What Did the CIPD Report Find?

Employers are finding it harder to recruit the right people, so more of them are choosing to build skills internally.

Cost is part of the picture. Most employers surveyed (54%) believe the Employment Rights Act 2025 will increase their employment costs, and around a quarter (26%) expect to recruit fewer workers as a result. The CIPD suggests the tilt towards upskilling might partly reflect those concerns. At the same time, a fifth of organisations plan to recruit more 18 to 24-year-olds over the next year.

Why Does In-House Development Matter for Health and Safety?

Because the law treats a change of role as a change of risk. A capable employee in one job isn't automatically competent in the next.

Under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers must provide the information, instruction, training and supervision needed to keep people safe. Regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 goes further. It requires training on recruitment and again whenever people face new or increased risks through a transfer or change of responsibilities, new work equipment, new technology or a new system of work.

Read that list again and it describes internal talent development almost exactly. Upskilling, redeployment and promotion all trigger it.

In nearly four decades of enforcement, consultancy and training, I've lost count of the investigations where the injured person wasn't new to the organisation at all. They'd been there for years. What was new was the machine, the site or the job they'd been moved onto a fortnight earlier. Long service had given everyone, the worker included, a confidence the training record couldn't back up.

HSE's guidance on new starters warns that workers are as likely to have an accident in their first six months at a workplace as in the whole of the rest of their working life. The reasons it gives, including unfamiliarity with the job and reluctance to raise concerns, apply to someone moving across the car park just as much as to someone walking through the gate for the first time.

Who Is Most at Risk When Organisations Grow Talent from Within?

Three groups deserve particular attention: people changing roles, apprentices and young workers, and newly promoted supervisors.

• Internal movers. Existing staff bring organisational knowledge into a new task, but not task knowledge. They may also feel they ought to know the answers already, which makes them less likely to ask.
• Apprentices and young workers. With 52% of employers offering apprenticeships and a fifth planning to hire more 18 to 24-year-olds, more young people are entering workplaces. The Management Regulations require employers to assess the particular risks to anyone under 18 before they start work.
• New supervisors. People are often promoted for technical skill, yet supervision is itself a safety control. A skilled operator doesn't automatically become a confident safety leader.

How Should Health and Safety Professionals Respond?

Get involved early and build safety competence into development plans from day one, rather than bolting it on afterwards.

1. Join the workforce planning conversation. The CIPD is encouraging employers to review their critical skills. Make sure safety-critical skills are on that list, and ask HR to flag planned moves before they happen.
2. Map competence to the destination role. Run a training needs analysis for the job someone is moving into, and identify which tasks need verified competence before they work unsupervised.
3. Treat every move as a new start. HSE's six steps for new starters (capability, induction, control measures, information, supervision and checking understanding) work just as well for internal transfers.
4. Develop supervisors before you promote them. Give new team leaders the knowledge to manage risk from their first shift. Qualifications such as IOSH Managing Safely are built for exactly this stage.
5. Protect the safety training budget. When costs rise, training is an easy line to trim. HSE estimates that workplace injuries and new cases of work-related ill health cost Great Britain £22.9 billion in 2023/24, which gives you a strong counter-argument.
6. Record competence, not attendance. A certificate proves someone was in the room. Observation, assessment and sign-off show they can do the job safely.

What Does This Mean for the Year Ahead?

Organisations that grow their own talent have a real chance to strengthen safety culture from the inside.

I'm genuinely encouraged by these findings. Developing the people you already employ builds loyalty and keeps hard-won knowledge in the business. It also gives safety professionals a rare chance to shape competence as it forms, rather than unpicking habits later.

The CIPD's Claire McCartney argues that investing in people is the best way for organisations to weather the pressures ahead. I'd agree, with one addition: make sure safety is written into that investment from the start. Your future supervisors are already on the payroll.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the CIPD Resourcing and Talent Planning Report?

It's the CIPD's annual survey of UK recruitment, retention and talent practice, supported in 2026 by Omni RMS. This year's edition surveyed 1,014 HR and people professionals.

How Many UK Employers Are Developing Talent In-House?

48% increased their efforts to develop talent in-house over the last year, and 91% are already upskilling existing employees or considering it.

Does Moving an Employee to a New Role Create New Training Duties?

Yes. Regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires training when employees face new or increased risks because of a transfer or change of responsibilities.

Why Are New Workers More Likely to Have Accidents?

HSE points to inexperience, unfamiliarity with the job and workplace, and reluctance to raise concerns. These factors can apply to experienced staff moving into new roles too.

How Does the Employment Rights Act 2025 Relate to Upskilling?

Most employers surveyed expect the Act to raise their employment costs. The CIPD suggests this might partly explain why employers are favouring upskilling over external recruitment.

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