A Highly critical report claims a worrying percentage of the workforce cannot write, add up and lack basic social skills.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) report, commissioned by the Government, found one in three employers were forced to pay for remedial lessons for staff and a fifth of all businesses said they often found non-graduate recruits to have literacy or numeracy problems.

The Department for Education and Skills intends to raise these standards in the workplace by introducing functional modules for GCSEs, but this comes too late for those who have left compulsory education.

To increase desirability to a potential employer there are options available to adults of any age.

The CBI identifies mental arithmetic and correct grammar and spelling as top of the employers' wish list' and there are hundreds of courses that deal with these issues.

Resources Plus is just one of the avenues open to job seekers which offers courses to meet this wish list'.

John Goouch, work placement officer at Resources Plus, says many people enter its program after completing basic skills training.

For more information on funding visit direct.gov.uk and for information on thousands of courses contact Learndirect on 0800 100 900.