A Bottom Ten Million Research Paper There is a skills dilemma in the United Kingdom (UK). Successive governments have focussed on supply-side measures to tackle the UK’s skills problems and to improve the nation’s international economic competitiveness. However, despite increased investment in skills and educational attainment, labour productivity in the UK lags behind other comparator countries. This paper challenges the implicit assumption in much skills policy making that the skills problem lies solely on the supply-side by pointing to underutilisation of skills in the United Kingdom and its effects on lost productivity both for businesses and the economy as a whole. Given the prevalence of underutilisation in low-wage sectors, case studies are drawn from the retail and hospitality sectors which exhibit high levels of skills under-utilisation in comparison with other sectors. This Paper offers policy recommendations which include the need to raise awareness on the nature of skills under-utilisation in the United Kingdom, and the need to make adjustments in job designs so that employees could better utilise their skills and contribute to the success of their respective employers.