The traditional ‘three Rs’ are on the decline in England, analysis has revealed, with over a quarter of adults having literacy levels so low that they may struggle to read a bus timetable or a wage slip.

Five million adults lack basic reading, writing and numeracy skills required in everyday life and to carry out a job, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found.

According to government figures, 28 per cent of adults have a standard of literacy of level 1 or below, the equivalent of GCSE grades D-G. For numeracy, 29 per cent of adults scored the level 1 or below.