Britain’s manufacturing skills must be protected amid lay-offs, industry says

British manufacturers are calling on the government to take urgent action to safeguard the skills the economy needs by saving apprenticeships.

The call also includes protecting the expertise of experienced skilled workers made redundant as a result of the pandemic by reskilling, retraining and redeploying.

Against the current backdrop of mass lay-offs on a scale unseen since the 1980s, the UK manufacturing sector faces a loss of skills, jobs and apprentices that without help, will not return to levels seen before COVID for years to come, the industry body says.

Apprenticeships, long seen by the sector as the best route to secure invaluable skills, are becoming unaffordable as businesses struggle for survival. In May the number of starts for 16-18-year-olds dropped 79% year on year, with numbers set to dwindle even further. And a third of manufacturers are cancelling or putting their apprenticeship training on hold due to financial pressure from the pandemic.

Make UK, the Trade Union Congress, the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions and skills training providers Enginuity and Cogent alongside other leading industry stakeholders from sectors including aerospace, food and drink, automotive, chemicals and defence have joined forces to write to the secretary of state for education, Gavin Williamson, outlining the immediate and direct action needed to safeguard Britain’s skills, young people and the manufacturing sector as a whole.

A National Skills taskforce must be set up at speed involving the trade unions and other key stakeholders to ensure vitals skills and skilled workers are retained and redeployed within industry.

The taskforce should work to identify opportunities where workers’ skills are in demand, whether in manufacturing or other sectors and develop a flagship upskilling programme to support employers in the development of new digital and ‘green’ skills needed for a future proofed economy.

This should work alongside a nationally agreed programme for workers who already have the necessary basic skills to reskill them into new growth areas of work and take advantage of new jobs that will be required as companies look to work differently, bringing their supply chains closer to home and enter new markets.

Apprentices, the skilled workers of the future, must also be protected through more flexible use of levy funds paid by companies. Government must extend the lifetime of funds from 24 to 36 months to allow apprentices the chance to finish their courses.

The levy should also be further adapted to allow it to be used for short term retraining and reskilling, alongside the introduction of modular learning to speed apprentices through training. Flex should be applied allowing levy-paying companies to use their levy funds to protect employment, while non-levy companies should have access to new direct grants.

To future proof the apprenticeship model going forward, government must also allow companies to spend more levy funds on an apprenticeship to reflect the real cost of training a young person.

Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK said: “Imaginative and speedy solutions are required to safeguard manufacturing in the UK in these unprecedented times. A National Skills Taskforce made up of representatives from industry, trade unions and Government – led by the Business Department – would go a long way to protecting the essential skills of the future within the sector.

“A programme to redeploy those highly skilled workers made redundant during COVID would safeguard manufacturing for the future, and help the sector retain hard-won talent as the country begins the hard work of economic recovery.

“Apprenticeships too are in danger of becoming another casualty - with companies already reducing or cancelling their training programmes altogether. Apprentices are the future, and without those skilled workers the country will not be able to take advantage of any upturn when it happens.”

Make UK www.makeuk.org