Belinda Vernon, Chair of National Numeracy said: “Under Mike’s leadership, National Numeracy has grown into a widely respected influential organisation across the UK. Not only has it shone a spotlight on the importance of numeracy skills, it has also encouraged more than a quarter of a million people to improve their everyday number skills.
Mike has laid a strong foundation for National Numeracy’s future and for the next CEO to continue to grow the charity’s important work. I am very grateful for Mike’s continuing commitment to ensure a successful transition to new leadership. The Board wishes Mike the very best for his future”.
Mike Ellicock said: “It has been a great privilege to build National Numeracy from a recommendation in a report to where we are today. I am immensely proud of my team and what we have achieved. We have started to build awareness of the extent of low numeracy skills and the impact this has on the economy, businesses and individual lives. Most importantly we have developed scalable digital approaches to build confidence and skills – and these are starting to gain traction in the NHS in particular. However, with half the adult population with number skills expected of a primary school child, there is still much to be done. I plan to continue to focus on enabling this neglected half of the population to become confident and competent to use numbers and data and will take time over the next few months to decide exactly how best to do that.
Much of what has been achieved is due to the dedication and hard work of an excellent team down here in Lewes and I would like to thank them along with the National Numeracy Board. With a clear strategy in place for the coming five years and with the support of a growing number of enlightened strategic supporters I have every confidence that National Numeracy will go from strength to strength, improving lives for more people and helping to boost the UK economy.”
