Learning and Development (L&D): A Practical Guide

Learning and development (L&D) is the work an organisation does to build its people's skills, knowledge and capabilities, both for the jobs they do today and the ones the organisation will need tomorrow. It covers formal training, on-the-job learning, coaching and mentoring, apprenticeships and the systems that support them. The CIPD describes an L&D strategy as setting out how an organisation develops its workforce's capabilities, skills and competencies, and as a key part of the overall business strategy.

This guide is for HR managers, people leads and founders who need to set up or improve L&D. It covers needs analysis, the 70-20-10 model, evaluation, building a strategy, budgeting and, for UK employers, the apprenticeship levy.

What is learning and development?

Learning and development is the function and set of activities that help employees gain the skills the organisation needs. In a small company it may be a manager's job plus a training budget; in a large one it is a team with its own strategy, platforms and providers.

L&D usually covers:

• Onboarding: getting new starters productive and confident.
• Job skills: technical, professional and role-specific training.
• Compliance training: health and safety, data protection and anything your sector requires.
• Management and leadership development: for new and experienced managers.
• Career development: progression paths, coaching, mentoring and stretch assignments.
• Apprenticeships and qualifications: structured programmes with formal assessment.

How to run a training needs analysis

A training or learning needs analysis compares the capabilities your organisation needs with the ones it has, then decides what learning, if any, will close the gap. The CIPD distinguishes an ongoing learning needs analysis, a regular health check on skills and capabilities, from a training needs analysis, a one-off look at the need for a specific training activity. Both are useful; the ongoing version stops L&D drifting away from the business.

The CIPD says analysis can happen at three levels, which should be viewed together:

A simple process based on the CIPD's steps:

1. Assess capability needs. Identify current and future needs, then assess existing skills, knowledge and attitudes.
2. Involve stakeholders. Talk to managers, subject experts and the employees affected.
3. Gather data from several sources. The CIPD lists methods including existing organisational data, interviews and focus groups, informal conversations, observing people at work, surveys, performance data, competency frameworks and job descriptions. Keep sensitive data confidential.
4. Prioritise the gaps. Rank them by business impact and urgency.
5. Choose the right response. The CIPD warns against defaulting to "a course". A gap may be better fixed by clearer processes, better tools, coaching or a change in workload.

If you need a structured way to record gaps by role, our skills gap analysis template gives you a ready-made format. For gaps you can only see in performance, our guide on how to measure job performance helps you separate skill gaps from other causes.

What is the 70-20-10 model?

The 70-20-10 model is a guideline suggesting that most development comes from experience on the job, a smaller share from other people and the least from formal training. It grew out of the Center for Creative Leadership's Lessons of Experience research into how executives learn, and CCL describes it as a classic guideline for developing managers. In CCL's version:

Use it carefully. The numbers describe what leaders reported about how they learned; they are not a measured law and not a budget rule, and the model doesn't tell you which specific experiences matter most. Its practical value is the reminder that a training course alone rarely changes behaviour: pair formal learning with real work to apply it on and someone to give feedback.

How do you evaluate learning? The Kirkpatrick model

The Kirkpatrick model evaluates training at four levels, from how people felt about it to whether it changed business results. Kirkpatrick Partners says the model was created by Dr Donald Kirkpatrick in the 1950s. Its four levels:

Practical tips:

• Decide the level 4 result you want before you design the programme, then work backwards.
• Most of the value is at levels 3 and 4, but they need managers' help. Agree with managers what they will look for.
• Keep level 1 surveys short and ask about relevance, not just enjoyment.

How to build a learning and development strategy

A learning and development strategy links what the business is trying to do with how it will build the capabilities to do it. A practical outline:

1. Start from business priorities. What will the organisation need to do differently in the next one to three years: new markets, new products, new technology, growth in headcount?
2. Run a needs analysis. Organisation, team and individual, as above.
3. Set a small number of priorities. For example: "Every new manager completes a management foundations programme within six months of promotion."
4. Choose the blend. For each priority, decide the mix of on-the-job experience, coaching and mentoring, and formal learning.
5. Decide build, buy or borrow. In-house content, external providers, or partnerships and apprenticeships.
6. Agree roles. What HR or L&D owns, what managers own and what employees own. Managers usually make or break behaviour change.
7. Pick platforms only once you know the need. A learning management system helps with tracking and compliance, but it won't create demand.
8. Define evaluation. One or two measures per priority, using the Kirkpatrick levels.
9. Review at least yearly. Retire what isn't working.

Illustrative one-page L&D plan

This is an example only. Replace the rows with your own priorities.

How should you set an L&D budget?

Set the budget from your priorities rather than a flat amount per head. Cost the programmes your strategy needs, add the time people spend learning (often the larger cost), and keep a small reserve for needs that come up mid-year. Include on-the-job and coaching activity, which may cost little in cash but needs manager time. Check whether any public funding or levy funds apply where you operate, and review spend against your evaluation results each year.

UK: the apprenticeship levy and the growth and skills levy

In the UK, employers with an annual pay bill of over £3 million pay a levy of 0.5% of their total pay bill. The Department for Education now presents the Growth and Skills Levy as building on the apprenticeship levy, which was introduced in 2017. Skills policy is devolved, so the rules below are for England; employers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should check their own nation's schemes.

As of October 2026, the Department for Education says that in England:

• Levy funds enter your apprenticeship service account monthly, based on your England pay bill.
• You can use funds for apprenticeships, foundation apprenticeships and apprenticeship units.
• From 1 August 2026, the government's 10% top-up to new funds stopped.
• New funds expire after 12 months if unused; funds received on or before 31 July 2026 still expire after 24 months.
• Once levy funds run out, the employer's co-investment for apprentices aged 25 and over rose from 5% to 25% of training costs; training for under-25s remains fully funded.

If you pay the levy, build apprenticeships and apprenticeship units into your L&D plan so funds don't expire. This is general information, not legal or financial advice; check the current funding rules on GOV.UK before committing.

Common L&D mistakes

• Starting with the catalogue. Buying a content library before knowing the need.
• Treating training as the default fix. Many performance gaps come from unclear goals, tools or processes.
• Leaving managers out. Without a manager's support, new skills rarely get used.
• Measuring attendance only. Completions are an input; behaviour and results are the outcome.
• One annual analysis, then nothing. Needs change during the year; keep the analysis ongoing.

Sources

Checked 30 October 2026.

• CIPD: Learning and development strategy and policy
• CIPD: Learning needs analysis
• Center for Creative Leadership: The 70-20-10 rule for leadership development
• Kirkpatrick Partners: The Kirkpatrick Model
• Department for Education: Growth and Skills Levy