T-levels have potential to deliver much-needed homegrown technical talent
03/11/2022
With a chronic shortage of skilled technicians to power Britain’s industry, it is critical that more employers get on board with T-levels and offer industry placements to plug the gap and give UK business the power it needs to compete on the international stage.
Coinciding with National T-Levels Week, Make UK and EngineeringUK published new research highlighting the benefits of T-Levels for businesses that are desperate for more young skilled people. However, the report, titled: ‘Unlocking talent: Ensuring T-Levels deliver the workforce of the future’, also draws attention to the challenges that T-levels face in the engineering and manufacturing sector, particularly the industry placement component of the qualification.
Make UK and EngineeringUK estimate that the engineering and manufacturing T-Level route will require as many as 43,500 placements to be provided by employers in the sector by 2024/25. Yet currently only one in ten (9%) of engineering and manufacturing employers surveyed for the report host a T-Level placement and just 12% plan to in the coming year.
It is not just awareness, cost and capacity that remain a major barrier, with 44% of engineering and manufacturing businesses saying a lack of staff capacity is the main barrier to delivering T-Level industry placements. Time commitment (41%) was the second most significant barrier for employers, while a fifth have concerns about legal constraints, extending to adequate protection of young people in safety-critical industries.
Three in ten employers (29%) indicated that the fact they already offered apprenticeships was a barrier to them being able to offer T-Level industry placements, increasing to 34% for the largest businesses.
That said, employers remain of the view that T-Levels have the potential to provide a solution to solving their vocational pipeline issues, with 55% open to taking on an industry placement in the future.
Government action is needed to remove the barriers facing the employers who are offering them in order to secure more industry placements. More than half (57%) of manufacturers said that reinstating the £1000 financial incentive would make the most notable difference to their ability to offer placements and two in five said integrating T-Levels with apprenticeships would help them to offer placements.
Make UK and EngineeringUK are calling on government to restore the £1000 incentive for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make it easier for employers to offer a T-Level placement, work with sector bodies and organisations to run an awareness-raising campaign to get more employers on board, develop clear progression maps that demonstrate how T-Levels work within the current education landscape and establish a T-Level industry placement taskforce to support the delivery of placements and be ambassadors for the wider T-Level programme.
Bhavina Bharkhada, Head of Policy & Campaigns at Make UK, said: “More than ever, the manufacturing industry is crying out for skilled technicians, data scientists and technical operators. The pipeline from the EU has been severely curtailed since the UK left the European Union, so we need to turbocharge the best-quality training in these skills from homegrown talent.
“For too long, apprenticeships and vocational careers in our great industries have been viewed as second best and the creation of T-Levels as a qualification of choice will go some way in delivering the very best in life opportunities, which is critical to changing perceptions and delivering the skills Britain so badly needs.”
Although T-Levels have been under development for some time, 28% of employers have still not heard of the new qualification and more than half (52%) say they would benefit from more tailored information and guidance, including at a local level. Government should go further in tailoring T-Level resources to employers in the sector, establishing a T-Level industry placement taskforce and promoting T-Levels across government to improve awareness and understanding.
Beatrice Barleon, Head of Policy & Public Affairs, EngineeringUK, said: “The UK urgently needs more engineers and technicians to drive innovation and support economic growth, as well as our ambitions around net zero. But, as it stands, we have far too few young people coming up through the education system wanting and able to move into a career in engineering and manufacturing.
“T-Levels are designed to provide young people with a clear pathway into engineering and manufacturing careers, but their success hinges on young people being able to access industry placements as part of their qualification. As it stands, it will be a real challenge to secure the 43,500 placements needed.
“We are therefore urging government to focus on supporting businesses and education providers through offering financial incentives, as well as creating the right conditions and frameworks. Doing so will enable them to collaborate efficiently and open up their businesses for young people to learn new skills and develop into the workforce of the future that we so desperately need.”
