Charlie Ryan AKA the Recruitment Queen says:

“We are seeing the high impact of low numeracy and literacy skills every day. It has also become difficult for the employer because where an employer felt a “C” grade was good enough in both of these areas at GCSE, having this grade is not guaranteeing the candidate is able to put together a solid email or letter to a customer. We tested a candidate for our own company this week. He did so so well in every area, the first interview, the presentation, the psychometric test offered us the personality we wanted, the second interview and then at the final hurdle he fell…… and what is the final hurdle? The candidate has to put together an email as to why they should get a job with us. Now just to be clear here, we are not looking for the world of enthusiasm and we do explain this to them, we are looking for grammar, spelling, layout and the fact that it reads well and is warm. There were 7 mistakes in the 3 paragraph email. And yes he had a “C” at GCSE English and had been working for 2 years. I guess the question is where is the issue? Is this a lack of knowledge or a lack of care? But either way we couldn’t offer him the job. Our communication to our customers is key as it is for all of our clients, with their customers and we don’t have time in our business to check whether or not someone’s email is written well. I do want to add we were as disappointed not to be able to offer him the job as he was to not get the job.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-productivity-growth-latest-remain-weak-adults-job-prospects-poor-literacy-numeracy-skills-economy-a8064751.html