Nearly a quarter of vacancies in the UK have gone unfilled because of a shortage of much-needed skills, a survey of 91,000 UK employers has revealed.

The Employer Skills Survey, by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), found that 22 per cent of the 655,000 vacancies in the UK remained untaken because employers could not find workers with the right skills.

Within England, the number of skill-shortage vacancies has nearly doubled since 2009, increasing from 63,100 to 124,800.

The survey, made up of 87,572 interviews, taking in 91,000 separate businesses across all UK sectors, found that jobs in skilled trades, management, professional roles, caring, leisure and machine operating were most affected.

Among the skills needed were “oral and written communication, literacy and numeracy skills” — something which seems to have worsened since the last survey in 2011.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “Employers in some sectors report persistent skills shortages which is why I have been working hard to design a skills system that is rigorous in the training it provides and responsive to the needs of employers.

“With a record number of people in jobs as our economy continues to grow we must have a skilled workforce equipped to work in a modern economy and compete effectively in the global race.”

The 200-page report, published on Thursday, January 30, also revealed that employers found 17 and 18-year-olds recruited from college were more ready for work than those of the same age recruited from school — 66 per cent of employers said school-leavers were well or very well prepared, while almost three quarters (74 per cent) said the same of college leavers.

Policy director Andy Gannon of the 157 Group, said: “The survey results are encouraging, but they demonstrate that all concerned can do more to boost training and skills levels.

“It is good that the report recognises the increased employability of college leavers, and we know that FE colleges stand ready to work… with employers and their representatives to ensure economic growth through an increasingly skilled workforce.

“In many areas, these relationships are already bearing fruit, and demonstrating the critical importance of colleges in delivering prosperity for all.”

Association of Colleges president Michele Sutton said: “The fact that employers are more positive about colleges leavers than school-leavers demonstrates clearly that gaining the high-quality qualifications colleges offer is the key to making young people more employable.

“The information that employers are reporting an increase in vacancies due to skills shortages is a real concern.

“It is proof that more vocational education is needed — whether alone or alongside academic qualifications — in order to bridge the gap.”

She added: “Colleges already play a key role in working closely with employers in their area to make sure they are providing young people with the right skills for the local jobs market, often through apprenticeships.”

The UKCES report also showed that total employer investment in training staff had fallen by 5 per cent between 2011 and 2013 (from £45.3bn to £42.9bn).

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute for Continuing Adult Learning, said: “This survey reinforces our concerns about handing over the ownership of the entire skills system to employers.

“To have a vibrant and effective skills system that meets the needs of business and wider society, it has to be led by a partnership of employers, learners and Government and must balance their interests.”

“If you step back from this survey and look at other evidence, including our own annual participation survey, this points to the need to stimulate informed demand for learning from young people, adults and employers. The only way you can achieve that kind of informed demand and ensure that there are enough people with the right level of skills for a successful economy and an inclusive society is through a partnership of employers, learners, Government and colleges and training providers working together.”

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt, of the, said: “More than 60 per cent of the skills shortages identified by employers were ‘technical, practical or job specific’.

“It is often not that people aren’t skilled enough… but that skills need to be applied more effectively.

“It’s vital employers commit to providing necessary training for their existing employees… employers need to invest more, not less, if they want to effectively address their skills deficits.”

Neil Carberry, Confederation of British Industry director for employment and skills, said: “The flip side of faster growth is an escalating skills crisis.

“While this isn’t surprising, it makes it all the more urgent to close the skills gaps in science, technology, engineering and maths to support the recovery.”

He added that a “sea-change quality of careers advice” would make young people “more aware of the opportunities and rewards of working in key sectors which face skills shortages.”

The report also found that nearly half of employers across the UK (48%) admit they recruit people with higher levels of skills and knowledge than are required for the job.

Jan Hodges, chief executive of the Edge Foundation, said the high level of skills shortages combined with issue of some workers being over-qualified for their jobs showed “young people need much better information, advice and guidance, and high quality work experience.”

“They need to know which qualifications and pathways lead to the best prospects,” she said.

Early airing for employer findings at Skills Summit

Around 150 delegates at the Skills Summit in central London got a preview of the Employer Skills Survey.

Michael Davis, UK Commission for Employment and Skills chief executive, said the survey presented “a mixed picture [with] positive trends, but also significant challenges”.

“All of these challenges need to be better understood and tackled if the UK is to have the skills needed for sustainable recovery,” he said at the event on Tuesday, January 28.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock was also at the conference, where he announced plans to build a new nuclear specialist college, while Skills Funding Agency executive director of provider management Marinos Paphitis said staff cuts at his organisation would not affect performance.

The agency announced a restructure late last year, leaving more than 1,000 staff uncertain of their futures

“There will be less of us… We’re going to be smarter, we’re going to do more things centrally, but we are going to have the relationships as well,” said Mr Paphitis.

“What we’re not going to stop doing is intervening where bad things happen. We have now got a systematic approach and we’re not tolerating failure.”

Just a fraction of the 25,200 FE loans taken out between August and October last year were for apprenticeships, government figures have revealed.

The Statistical First Release (SFR) on Thursday, January 30, showed that less than 0.4 per cent (100) of the loans paid out to learners over 24 were given to apprentices.

And, taking on board application figures for the period, just one-in-four apprentice applicants took out a loan.

But the SFR, which for the first time shows FE loans uptake, contained further damning figures for the FE apprentice loan system.

Its provisional data showed that 2,800 people aged 25 or over started an advanced or higher level apprenticeship between August and October.

The figures compare to the provisional number of 24,000 in the same period in 2012 — a fall of more than 88 per cent.

It has reinforced the view among sector leaders that extending the scheme to apprentices was a mistake and comes just over a month after Business Secretary Vince Cable told FE Week that apprentice FE loans were being scrapped.

However, they continue to be processed by the Student Loans Company.

David Hughes, National Institute for Adult Continuing Education chief executive, said: “We have always had concerns about this policy and it quickly became evident that it was not working.

“This has been highlighted today by the substantial fall in the number of people, aged 25 and over, who are on advanced and higher level apprenticeships.

“These provisional figures are just 12 per cent of those reported at this level last year.

“We are pleased the government has decided to scrap loans for advanced and higher level apprenticeships, but we are anxious to see what will replace them.

“We need clarity on the funding arrangements so that more people over 24 will be able to take advantage of the opportunities these apprenticeships offer.”

A spokesperson at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declined to answer questions about the fall in 25+ apprentice numbers or comment the possibility it was linked to the loans debacle.

He said: “These are provisional figures and we have had some data collection issues which affects the validity and makes it difficult to draw conclusions.

“It is important to know that we will have fuller and more accurate data at the end of the year.”

He was also unable to confirm when loans would stop being processed for apprentices.

The SFR figures came the same day as monthly FE loan application numbers were published.

They showed that of the 2,021 loan application made in December, just 162 were for apprenticeships.

It means the total number of application since the scheme started in April was 57,205 — of which 695, or 1.2 per cent, were for apprenticeships.

National Union of Students president Toni Pearce said: “Asking adults to pay up to £4,000 a year to study for A-levels, BTecs and even to work as apprentices was always the wrong way to go, and hugely unfair to people who want to study or re-skill later in life.

“Such sky-high fees are clearly a major deterrent for many adults who wish to study in further education.”

Plans for a new college to train nuclear power plant workers have sparked concerns among colleges who had been hoping to deliver training for the industry themselves.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock was at the PoliticsHome Skills Summit in London on Tuesday (January 28) when he announced the proposals. He said the new college could “provide the specialist, advanced skills” for the nuclear industry.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) later told FE Week the location of the new college had not been “established”.

The announcement caused raised eyebrows at Bridgwater College, in Somerset, where principal Mike Robbins has spent the last three years planning for and developing training facilities and courses for workers set to help build a new nuclear power station at nearby Hinkley Point by 2023.

Mr Robbins told FE Week: “We are awaiting further details, but would hope to play as full a part in any discussions as possible. We have invested much of our own time, effort and resources in preparing for the new nuclear build on our doorstep and in developing plans with contractors and other colleges and training providers in the region to meet the skills and training needs of the project.”

Another provider that could be affected by the plans is South Gloucestershire & Stroud College. It has submitted proposals with local enterprise partnership gfirst (Growing Gloucestershire) to develop a renewable energy, engineering and nuclear skills training centre at the decommissioned Berkeley power station, in Gloucestershire.

A spokesperson for the college declined to comment on whether its plans could be undermined by the proposed nuclear college.

Mr Hancock’s announcement came just weeks after the government unveiled proposals to create a new college, the first since colleges were incorporated in 1993, to support the engineering skills needed for the new HS2 rail project.

He said he wanted it to be an “elite centre” like the nuclear college.

“In the next 20 years, some £930bn will be spent across the world on new nuclear reactors — and £250bn on decommissioning old ones. In Britain alone, 40,000 jobs could be created,” said Mr Hancock.

“So the new college will build on the industry’s work — and provide the specialist, advanced skills to meet that demand — and then sell that expertise to the world.”

Bridgwater College has already invested more than £2m of its own money on its scheme and attracted millions more from outside organisations. Among the investors was French firm EDF Energy, which will build the new facility. Its managing director, Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson, was quoted in a BIS press release on the new nuclear college plans announced by Mr Hancock.

Mr Robbins said: “Although many of our programmes, qualifications and facilities have been designed to meet local demand, some are designed to meet industry needs on a national scale, and it wouldn’t make sense to replicate them. The extent to which a new national nuclear college would impact on this work would therefore largely depend on its intended purpose, how it will operate and where it is located.”

See Mr Robbins’ expert piece on page 10

As many as 1,500 qualifications face the public funding axe as the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) looks to introduce a 15-credit threshold.

The SFA has published a list of 1,477 Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) level two to four qualifications which it says will not be approved for funding in 2014/15.

It aims to make funding only available to qualifications of at least 15 credits (one credit equates to 10 hours’ learning), despite draft proposals late last year in which qualifications had to be of at least 12 credits. The change means that certificates — not just lower-credited awards — will be hit.

Jill Lanning, Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) chief executive, said: “We are naturally concerned that the new rules and the resultant significant reduction in the number of qualifications eligible for public funding will have serious implications for awarding bodies but also for the breath of the offer available to providers and learners.

“FAB will continue to represent its members’ views in our on-going discussions with the Skills Funding Agency as the implications of these changes become clearer.”

The move comes after a review by BAE Systems group managing director Nigel Whitehead late last year, in which he suggested 95 per cent of the adult vocational market’s 19,000-plus qualifications could be axed in a bid to “de-clutter the system”.

Nevertheless, 15-credit announcement came via a statement on the SFA website while the sector awaits the Skills Funding Statement.

It said on the SFA website: “This is a list of QCF qualifications from level two to four approved for funding for 2013/14 but which do not meet the new size business rule of 15 credits for level two to four qualifications, and are therefore not approved for 2014/15.

“Awarding organisations may notify that they wish the agency to consider funding a qualification below 15 credits.”

Among the awarding organisations with qualifications named in the list is apt awards, which has seven qualifications on the list.

Chief executive Christine Bullock said she had a team analysing the impact the cull would have.

She said: “It is something we were aware of and we are analysing the document as we speak.”

City & Guilds has 289 qualifications at risk. A spokesperson said: “We will look into the information further and work with the SFA accordingly.”

It comes after a cull of more than 1,800 adult qualifications that had little or no uptake was reported by FE Week last September. The SFA axed the funding for a host of awards, from entry level to level four, as part of its New Streamlined Funding System for Adult Skills in August.

Among the qualifications hit were City & Guilds’ level one award in creative techniques in jewellery — personalised key fob and the Royal Society for Public Health’s level two award in health promotion.

Ms Lanning, from FAB, said: “The SFA outlined its thinking [on latest cull] to our members at a couple of forums last Autumn which did indicate restrictions on funding based on the size of qualifications so our members have waiting to see what this would mean in practice.

“It is no secret that public funding and therefore the SFA’s budget is being squeezed and they have been developing their new approach over the past few months.”

She added: “Our members will now be working through this very detailed document to understand what it means for them.

“It is important to remember that a significant number of qualifications are already taken by learners who finance themselves or are supported by their employers.”

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Editorial: Skills Funding Statement leakage?

The Skills Funding Agency said in its weekly update that it could not announce funding rules for next year until BIS published the now well overdue annual Skills Funding Statement (SFS).

It might therefore come as a surprise to learn that on the same day the agency said this, it announced a significant funding rule anyway.

The new rule states level two, three or four qualifications below 15 QCF credits will no longer be funded.

Could it be the SFA could not wait any longer, and the SFS information blockage is starting to leak?

Providers, who try to plan and advertise their courses well in advance, should be the first to be informed.

Instead, this significant funding change was to be found in new ‘business rules’ for awarding organisations, like it was perfectly normal and to be expected.

Without FE Week bringing the change to the attention of providers, how long before they would have realised?

The SFS (still not out at the time of going to press) serves to communicate such changes. It cannot come soon enough.

Chris Henwood