Divert ‘wasted’ Apprenticeship Levy to plug digital skills gap says IET

Chair of the IET’s Innovation and Skills panel Dr Graham Herries delivered the call as the organisation published its latest Skills for a Digital Future report ahead of its presentation to The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee at Westminster on 7 February.

“The UK’s digital skills strategy must align with the needs of employers. The findings of this survey point to three key actions for Government,” he warned. 

“These include funding for upskilling and reskilling – which could come from using the unspent Apprenticeship Levy; providing sustained support for skills in emerging technology by seeing training as an investment; and providing targeted support for SMEs, who may find it more challenging to provide training.”

The report notes that an estimated 50% of engineering employers say they lack the necessary skills to exploit growing demand for new technologies such as AI, extended reality and quantum engineering and computing.

The IET noted that since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017, a total of £2 billion had been returned to the Treasury, at a time when the UK economy was suffering a digital skills deficit costing the national economy an estimnated £63 billion annually. 

Additionally, in five years, training spend had fallen and the number of apprenticeship starts was reduced, with more than 60% of employers not using levy entitlements.

Said Herries: “While digital skills must be integrated into STEM learning, over 80% of 2030’s workforce is already in work. Reskilling the current workforce must be a major part of the solution.” 

Most employers supported this he said, with nearly three quarters describing their staff as ‘agile’. Most preferred training rather than hiring. 

“Boosting the UK’s digital skills capability can unlock our huge technological potential and boost growth,” he stated.

Pic: Apprentices at Siemens' digital factory in Congleton