In this guest blog for Skills Federation, Katharina Ehrhart, Policy and Research Manager at Financial Services Skills Commission, describes the key findings of their latest Annual Skills Report.
This week, Financial Services Skills Commission published our Annual Skills Report 2026. Now in its fifth year, the report represents our most comprehensive assessment yet of skills supply and demand across the sector.
The report – titled ‘Skills gaps: a moving target’ –finds that technological change is placing increasing pressure on financial services firms to continually adjust their skills strategies.
As the Commission’s research lead, I’m particularly proud that this year’s analysis is underpinned by a 33% increase in sample size, reflecting the continued growth of our membership and the trust firms place in our work. This expansion is a significant milestone. It enables us to draw insights from a broader and more representative cross-section of the sector, strengthening both the reliability of the findings and their value to employers and policymakers. In a period of technological and economic change, this depth of evidence matters.
The data confirms that skills gaps are not static or linear. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and other technologies are continually reshaping roles and capability requirements, often faster than organisations can plan for through traditional workforce strategies. As explored in the report, firms are increasingly prioritising agile, targeted upskilling over longer-term reskilling alone. In this context, adaptability has emerged as the most in demand behavioural skill, alongside rising demand for artificial intelligence and cyber-related capabilities across a wide range of roles.
There is a need for data led insight that leaders can act on with confidence. Our expanded dataset allows us to provide exactly that: richer evidence on where skills demand is accelerating, where shortages are widening, and how firms are responding in practice. The larger sample also supports more nuanced analysis of learning investment, internal mobility and early careers pathways.
The findings point to areas of resilience. Investment in learning has held steady, internal mobility remains strong with over half of roles filled internally, and early careers employment has grown by 2.5%, driven largely by apprenticeships. At the same time, the report highlights ongoing challenges, including uneven engagement with learning and continued pressure on technical and behavioural skills.
As the title of the report suggests, we must now consider skills gaps to be an ever-moving target. By significantly strengthening our evidence base, we are better equipped than ever to support our members with data that provides clarity, confidence and clear actions.
You can download a copy of the report, featuring full data and analysis here. You can also watch the full recording of the launch event on YouTube.
