MILLIONS of adults across the country struggle with basic reading and writing.

Many are socially excluded and cannot access higher education courses or jobs that require a basic standard of literacy.

Life skills tutor Keith Johnson helps clients at St Petrock's homeless charity, in Exeter's Cathedral Yard, to improve their reading and writing skills.

St Petrock's recently became a City and Guilds online test centre, so clients can take their adult literacy and numeracy tests there rather than having to go to a college or another centre.

Keith hopes this will encourage more people to take the test. "It means they have the comfort or familiarity of using the centre and are able to take the test here as well," he said.

"It is very informal here because of the set-up. If it was more formal, it would put people off."

Keith aims to help clients attain Skills for Life entry level three, or levels one or two.

Level two is the equivalent of an A to C grade at GCSE and level one is the equivalent of a D to G grade. He also coaches learners from other countries who want to improve their English.

He said: "It does allow people to access further education and jobs they haven't been able to. It can make a big difference."

Becoming more literate allows people to recognise and achieve their potential.

Keith said: "It helps them to get the most out of life and gives them the self belief and self esteem that comes from knowing they understand things from the way they are written.

"Some people realise they could have done this years ago if someone had given them help. It is always nice to feel that, in some ways, you have helped someone."

Literacy is even more important now than it has been in the past.

"It is hard to hold down any kind of job if your literacy skills are low. Before, there were people who were very good at their jobs without having to worry about literacy skills," Keith said.

St Petrock's also teaches clients who have never used a computer to become more computer literate and to gain skills through using the internet and email.

How long it takes to brush up on your literacy skills as an adult depends on your circumstances. While some people can take years to reach the required standard, some of Keith's students are already capable of achieving level two.

"Most jobs need to use computers to some degree," Keith said. "There are spell checkers, but there are too many mistakes with people picking the wrong word on spell checker.

"You can never predict a time. It is based on where they're starting, what motivation they have and how much they are prepared to do outside lessons."

Keith believes many people struggle to learn to read because they have too much pressure put on them in school and watching their peers read and write at the age of five or six when they cannot can make them feel like failures.

He said: "I home educate my own children and with home education, you find a lot of children read at what would be considered late in schools; they are 10 or 11 years old, and within months, they are reading the same as other children their age. They find a love of books and devour them.

"We worry too much about trying to get people to read early. We need to relax and trust children more.

"I see a lot of people that seem to have been failed by the school system and don't have the literacy skills you think people should have after 11 years of schooling."

Keith's students are already semi-literate — they just need help to improve.

But he does not think there is enough provision for people who cannot read or write at all.

"There is a lack of understanding and a lack of resources at that level of work," he said. "There is just nothing for people who cannot read and write. There is no understanding at job centres that a person needs one-to-one help."

He added: "It's not always about getting the tests. Someone filled in a form for himself and said, 'It's the first time I've done it myself.' It's nice for people to take that bit of control."