Devon's businesses need to combat skills gap

Action is required to stem a skills crisis in the South West, warns new research today.

The Prince’s Trust and HSBC report suggests that 69 per cent of South West businesses believe a significant skills crisis will hit their organisations within the next three years while 43 per cent predict it will happen within the next 12 months. Two thirds of South West businesses surveyed fear skills shortages will halt the UK's economic recovery, while a third fear it would cause their business to fold.

The report, based on interviews with UK business leaders1 suggests that 81 per cent believe that the recruitment of young people into the workforce is vital to avert a skills crisis.

Around half of South West businesses surveyed are already experiencing skills gaps within their organisations, and more than half have been unable to fill vacancies over the past year as a result. The Prince’s Trust is calling on employers to invest in vocational training for unemployed young people in the region to avoid future skills shortages.

The government’s 2012 census revealed that 21 per cent of people in the South West aged 16 and over had no recognised qualification. Although the South West’s unemployment, at 5.5% in 2012, was the lowest unemployment rate among the regions of England and countries of the UK, youth unemployment stands at more than three times that figure.2

Dermot Finch, regional director of The Prince’s Trust in the South West, said: “It is deeply concerning that employers in the South West are struggling to fill vacancies when we have thousands of unemployed young people who are desperate for work.

The current economic recovery is encouraging, but in order to sustain this growth, U.K. plc needs to invest in the next generation to avoid a skills vacuum in the future. We are urging businesses to take action now to up-skill the workforce of the future to prevent the bubbling skills crisis from boiling over.”

In Exeter, The Prince’s Trust is working with employers like the University Partnerships Programme (UPP) to help unemployed young people gain the skills they need to access available jobs.

Commenting on the labour market statistics for June 2014, published by the Office for National Statistics, Phil Smith, Managing Director of Business West, said:

“The labour market in the South West is continuing to strengthen, with unemployment falling and employment risingfor the economic recovery to be on stronger footing, we need to see rises in productivity as well as tougher action on youth unemployment.

Firms in our region tell us that there is a skills gap acting as a barrier to growth and more action must be taken to ensure that the skill demands of the business community are being met by the education providers."

1 The research is based on a representative sample of senior directors in UK businesses with 500+ employees. All respondents also had visibility of skills issues within their organisations.

2 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/regional-statistics/region.html?region=South+Wes