This article reviews recent policies and government initiatives that have aimed to improve the uptake of vocational qualifications amongst hard-to-reach groups in the working population. The Employer Training Pilots and the Sector Skills Pilots have been designed to trial new ways of engaging employers in training and encouraging the take-up of qualifications and thereby improve the skills base of the working population. A feature adopted by some providers involved in these initiatives, and viewed as instrumental in assisting with take-up, is the approach that has become known as the assess-train-assess (ATA) model. This involves initial assessment of the learner's existing skills, identification of any skills gap and training customised to meet the individual's needs, followed by assessment to establish the extent to which the "gap" has been filled. Research commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills to explore good practice in ATA is described. Data from the Employer Training Pilots is then analysed to examine the role of ATA in the attainment of awards. (Contains 3 tables and 2 notes.)