AI Skills Hub and AI Skills Boost, explained

What is the AI Skills Hub?

You use the AI Skills Hub to sign up for AI Skills Boost and find its courses. AI Skills Boost is the training itself: short AI courses made by industry partners and backed by the government. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology describes it as "AI Skills Boost is a government-industry initiative to improve UK workforce readiness by upskilling 10 million UK workers in AI skills by 2030 ...".

You make a free learning profile on the AI Skills Hub, then choose courses. Many of them run elsewhere: FE Week found on 22 Apr 2026 that many offerings on the hub "redirected users to providers' own platforms".

Which courses on the AI Skills Hub are free?

Skills England says the AI Skills Boost courses are free (its wording is quoted further down this page). The hub lists more than AI Skills Boost, and those courses vary. FE Week counted the hub's listings on 22 Apr 2026. It found: "Most courses from the main host organisations – Microsoft, Google and Amazon – are free, with just four of their 137 courses requiring payment." It went on: "But many others incur a fee, with around 60 per cent of all listed courses requiring users to pay."

The hub's list changes, and FE Week's count is from April, so check the price on each course before you enrol. We don't reproduce the hub's course list here because we can't check it against the hub.

What is the AI Skills Boost badge?

It is a virtual badge from Skills England for finishing an AI Skills Boost course that covers all of its AI foundation skills for work. In Skills England's words: "Anyone who completes an AI Skills Boost course covering all 6 foundation skills will receive a virtual badge to show they have met this benchmark." Its blog adds: "The badge can be used on social media and in CVs when applying for jobs."

The six foundation skills, as Skills England lists them:

1. Writing clear instructions for AI tools
2. Using AI tools to support routine processes and tasks
3. Using simple software that automates work tasks
4. Adjusting how an AI tool works to get better results
5. Understanding the risks and consequences associated with AI use
6. Analysing information using AI tools

How do you get the AI Skills Boost badge?

1. Make a free learning profile on the AI Skills Hub.
2. Choose an AI Skills Boost course that covers all six foundation skills. Not every course on the hub does, so check before you start.
3. Finish the course, often on the provider's own site. Skills England says the badge then comes through the AI Skills Boost programme.

Not stated on the GOV.UK or Skills England pages (read on 7 Nov 2026): how long the badge takes to arrive, or which platform issues it.

Is AI Skills Boost only for England?

No. Skills England sets the benchmark, but AI Skills Boost is open across the UK: "This is a package of free, industry-developed short courses which are available to everyone in the UK online." You don't need to live or work in England.

What does differ by nation is the rest of the funding. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own schemes, set out in government-funded AI courses by nation.

Where else can you find free AI courses in the UK?

On our list of free AI courses: 86 courses that cost nothing, 43 of them with a free certificate or badge, each checked against the provider's own page.

Who can get AI Skills Boost (AI Skills Hub)?

In the official words (official page, checked 7 Nov 2026):

• "Every adult in the UK is eligible to take free, newly benchmarked courses to gain practical AI skills for work."
• "People will be able to gain a government-backed virtual AI foundations badge for completing selected training courses."
• "Open to all UK adults online, taking as little as under 20 minutes, the courses will give people the skills needed to use simple AI tools effectively in the workplace ..."
• "Training is available on the revamped AI Skills Hub, a free site where users can create a learning profile and follow a tailored learning journey beyond the foundations training."

Who pays: UK government with industry partners.

Status: Running. Announced on 28 January 2026, with no notice on GOV.UK that it has closed.