Britain is in the longest recession since the Second World War. Mass unemployment is back. The road to recovery could be long and bumpy. On the fiscal front, the deficit could be higher than the 175 billion British Pounds forecast for 2009-10. Bringing the deficit under control will require higher taxes and lower public spending. In an effort to find the funds to help the unemployed remain employable and to develop workers for new industries, Labour administrations have rationed public spending on adult skills and higher education in England by reengineering resources towards "upskilling" and "reskilling". Moreover, two new funding systems of Personal Pension Accounts and Personal Skill Accounts will be phased in to support the statutory right of adult employees to request time off for adult training. However, a decade at least is often required between the establishing of an independent commission, the passing of legislation and implementation of the policy. Therefore, 2019 is the earliest Personal Skill Accounts could be introduced. The author argues that a decade is no time at all to wait for a long-term solution to the funding of upskilling and reskilling in the twenty-first century.