Exclusive: London bearing the brunt of skills shortages, say city bosses
The skilled labour shortage gripping the UK is being felt most acutely by London businesses, with seven in 10 executives saying their company has been affected.
Despite promises of emergency visas and skills training from the Government, 22 per cent of London business leaders think the problem will be the biggest hurdle their company will face over the next five years, according to data shared exclusively with City PM this morning.
Today’s business barometer from the Institute of Directors and the Open University found 52 per cent of companies have found finding the right staff harder in the last six months than recruiting workers a year ago.
Industries as diverse as logistics, farming, hospitality, social care and financial services have all cried out for changes to work visa policies to help companies better access talent and clear a backlog of supply chain issues.
The UK Government’s answer to industry has largely been ‘train more, and pay more’ – Boris Johnson only yesterday told Conservative party faithful gathered in Manchester that he won’t use the “same old lever of uncontrolled immigration to keep wages low”.
Today’s business barometer also shows that firms are taking on at least some of that advice. Nearly 60 per cent of London firms surveyed say they’ll spend more on training in the next year.
Of those UK businesses that have apprentices almost all of them – 96 per cent – said they will hang on to them or increase apprenticeships overall.
Viren Patel, director of the business development unit at The Open University said of the skills squeeze: “The ability to find specialist talent is proving a real headache for business leaders today.
“Our survey findings highlight the skills gap is here for the long haul and it hasn’t improved in the last twelve months,” Patel added.
Kitty Ussher, chief economist at the IoD, said UK-wide six in ten businesses admit to having a skills shortage shows the huge impact Covid-19 and Brexit have had on the UK.
She added: ” On the plus side, we are also seeing optimism around the potential for remote working to fill skills gaps and an appreciation of the role of apprenticeships to train tomorrow’s workers. We’re asking the UK government to put lifelong learning, retraining and upskilling at the heart of their forthcoming Budget so that firms and individuals alike can fully take advantage of the massive opportunities that are available as our economy recovers and restructures.”