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A key aspect of education and training policy in the United Kingdom (UK) is the development of a group of key skills and their incorporation into the national qualification system for 16 to 18 years olds. Key skills are identified as those increasingly required by employers and, when applied in practice, enabling an employee to operate in a workplace, either individually or with others. These skills have been defined as communication (oral and written), the application of number, information technology, working with others, improving one's own learning and performance, and problem solving. This research combined quantitative and qualitative data to investigate the importance of key skills to employers, their perceptions of the accessibility of these skills in the workforce, and employers' knowledge and use of key skills.