AI is helping East of England firms create new jobs and build the skills needed to stay competitive, according to research from the Lloyds Business Barometer.
Businesses step up investment in AI skills
62% of East of England businesses already using AI say it has created new jobs in their firm, while 51% of all firms in the region plan to increase investment in AI to upskill their workforce in the coming year.
Of those increasing investment, 47% expect to spend between £25,000 and £100,000, while 40% expect to spend between £100,000 and £250,000.
While 52% of East of England businesses say their workforce has the AI skills needed, 40% say it does not.
Overall, 71% of the region’s firms say they currently use AI.
AI becoming essential for competitiveness
54% of East of England firms say that businesses which fail to adopt AI in the next three years will be at a competitive disadvantage, suggesting AI is increasingly viewed as a competitive necessity.
Barriers to AI adoption
Businesses in the region using AI cited access to skills (23%), data quality (22%) and cost (18%) as the main challenges to getting greater value from AI.
Kirsty Sadler, regional director for the East of England at Lloyds, said: “Across the East of England the commercial benefits of AI are becoming clear, with a majority of firms now seeing it as a necessity to stay competitive in their respective markets. That’s why it’s encouraging that adoption is so widespread, but even more so is the number of businesses who’ve reported that it’s already creating new job opportunities
“There are still barriers for firms to overcome when it comes to adoption, but these findings show our business community is committed to overcoming them through measures like investing in skills to unlock the potential of this technology.”
Amanda Murphy, CEO of Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking, said: “Businesses are increasingly focused on how AI can help them grow, improve productivity and compete more effectively.
“Many firms see AI as an investment in people as well as technology. They’re building skills, creating new roles and looking at how AI can help their teams work differently. At the same time, businesses recognise there’s a risk in standing still. As AI becomes more embedded across the economy, the ability to adapt and build the right capabilities will become an increasingly important source of competitive advantage.
“The opportunity is significant, but ensuring businesses of all sizes can access the skills and support they need will be critical to unlocking AI’s full potential.”
The national picture
More than half of UK businesses (54%) say AI has created new jobs, and 58% plan to invest in AI skills.
31% say their workforce does not yet have the AI skills needed and 58% of UK firms say businesses risk falling behind competitors if they fail to adopt AI
For UK businesses overall, cost, data quality and skills are the biggest barriers to getting more value from AI.
Lloyds is scaling AI roles, tools and training
Lloyds is also investing in its own AI capability. In June, the Group announced plans for more than 1,000 AI-related roles in 2026, including almost 300 agentic AI-related roles and one of the first Level 6 AI Engineering apprenticeships by a UK bank.
More than 400,000 AI Academy courses have been taken since January, with over 65,000 colleagues completing training on working responsibly with AI.
