The key message of NIACE's 2011 survey of adult participation in learning is that recession is bad for lifelong learning for anyone over the age of 25. The survey highlights the central importance of workplaces as sites of adult learning--and the challenges posed to a learning society when opportunities to learn reduce. It shows that the gap between the learning rich and the learning poor is widening, with professional and managerial groups more than twice as likely to take part in learning as the least skilled. Yet, a year ago, the lowest social class reported a sharp increase, suggesting that cutbacks in provision--whether public or private--have hurt most those who have had least benefit from their earlier experience of education and training. However, perhaps the most concerning aspect of the survey is the decline in reported future intentions to take up learning. Reductions in publicly funded provision, coupled with reduced workplace offers, have, it seems, a depressing effect on people's expectations for themselves. This article reports the key findings from the survey.