The UK is facing a digital skills crisis. We will need 1.2 million new technical and digitally skilled people by 2022 to meet rising demand from employers. Looking further ahead, within 20 years predictions are that 90 per cent of all jobs will require some element of digital skills. Yet, up to 12.6 million of the adult population lack the basic digital skills they need to benefit from the online world and one in 10 adults (that’s nearly six million) have never used the internet.

The numbers of mature part-time and full-time learners in higher education has declined by 61 per cent since 2010, according to recent research from the Office of Fair Access (OFFA).

The annual Access to Higher Education conference, organised by the Access Validating Agency OCN London, will this year focus on the themes of recruitment, progression and success for mature learners.

This year around half a million students are entering higher education – a record number. But whilst the volume of students with A levels remains fairly constant, there has been a significant rise amongst those with qualifications other than A levels entering higher education, including many students from disadvantaged backgrounds.