Millions of employees believe that their lack of basic skills has lost money for their companies and themselves, according to a survey for Learndirect.

The survey projected that 14.6m workers had lost their firms money because of literacy and numeracy mistakes.

It found that two-thirds of people relied on computer spell-checkers and almost two in five of the people surveyed said that they relied on someone else at work to check their calculations.

Spelling, currency exchange, comparing price tariffs, measuring volume and helping children with homework are among the areas where literacy and numeracy are causing problems and embarrassment.

The survey projected that 1.4 million people believed they had missed promotion because of weaknesses with literacy and numeracy.