Fighting for you - what the IMI told BEIS about skills shortages

Yesterday I met representatives from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), who were keen to listen to our concerns regarding the unprecedented skills shortages we are facing in our sector.

We shared with the various representatives from different departments within BEIS detailed data on the challenges we’re facing in automotive and made sure to emphasise the critical shortages in the technical areas, including Light Vehicle Technicians, HGV Technicians and Body and Paint Technicians.

We know Brexit has exacerbated shortages as many, mainly Eastern European operatives have left the UK, and the fact that, as committed to apprenticeships as we are in automotive, this alone cannot address the current record levels of shortages, especially as there’s been a huge reduction in apprentice training and recruitment during the pandemic that’ll likely take some years to rectify.

We have solutions

We aren’t naïve and understand governments and the various departments don’t automatically have the answers. It’s why we went armed with solutions.

• Adding the key automotive technical roles to the government’s Shortage Occupation List, potentially making it significantly easier for employers to recruit talent from overseas.
• Providing access to the government’s Green Occupations funding to help support the upskilling of Technicians to work on Electric Vehicles (EV’s). This would help address the skills gap which we have identified will begin to develop from 2027 onwards and lead to a significant shortage by 2030.

They may not be a silver bullet for the many issues that culminate in the skills shortage, which is affecting all sectors of the economy. But they’d go some way towards helping to alleviate the problems. And these are solutions that are within the government’s remit to offer.

The BEIS representatives agreed to take forward our suggestions, and we’ll bring more data to the table to back up our arguments if needed to help move things forward until we find some solutions to the industry’s challenges. And until we do, we’ll keep fighting your corner.

It’s a tough time right now, and I wanted you to know that we’re here to help, so if you have any questions, please get in touch. Call +44 (0)1992 519025, or send an email to hello@theimi.org.uk.

With my very best wishes

Steve