ROUND-UP SEPTEMBER 2020
InDepth 19.2%
Fast facts: Women in industry
Women make
up very few
high-paid jobs
13.3%
The gender pay
gap in industry
(UK average: 14.3%)
15%
Of engineering
graduates are
female
“Imaginative and speedy” solutions
needed to safeguard manufacturing
A group of leading manufacturers,
unions, skills training providers
and industry bodies has called
on the government to take urgent
action to help safeguard the country’s
apprenticeships and the skills essential for
economic recovery and growth
With the prospect of unemployment
reaching levels unseen since the 1980s,
the manufacturing sector faces a loss of
skills, jobs and apprentices, that without
help, will not return to levels seen before
COVID-19 for years to come.
Apprenticeships, long seen as the
best route to secure skills, are becoming
unaff ordable as businesses navigate the
impacts of the pandemic. In May, the
number of starts for 16-18-year-olds
dropped 79% year on year, with numbers
set to dwindle even further, with a third of
manufacturers cancelling or putting their
apprenticeship training on hold due to
fi nancial and future uncertainty.
Make UK, the TUC, the Confederation
of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions
and skills training providers Enginuity and
Cogent, alongside leading manufacturers
have joined forces to write to the
Secretary of State for Education, Gavin
Williamson, outlining the “immediate
and direct” action needed to safeguard
Britain’s skills, young people and the
manufacturing sector as a whole.
The group has called for a national
taskforce to be set up to ensure vital
skills are retained and redeployed within
industry. The taskforce should work to
identify opportunities where certain skills
are in demand, whether in manufacturing
or other sectors, and develop a
programme to support employers in
the development of the new digital and
‘green’ skills that will be needed for a
future-proofed economy.
This should work alongside a
Source: Making gender pay manufacturers’ business, Make UK 2018
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nationally agreed programme for workers
who already have the necessary basic
skills to reskill them into new growth
areas of work and take advantage of new
jobs that will be required as companies
look to work diff erently, bringing their
supply chains closer to home and enter
new markets.
“Imaginative and speedy solutions are
required to safeguard manufacturing in
the UK in these unprecedented times,”
said Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK.
Apprentices must also be protected
through more fl exible use of levy funds
paid by companies, the group said.
Government must extend the lifetime
of funds from 24 to 36 months to allow
apprentices to fi nish their courses.
The levy should also be further
adapted to allow it to be used for short-
term retraining and reskilling, alongside
the introduction of modular learning to
speed apprentices through training.
“The manufacturing sector is at a
pivotal moment in its ability to bounce
back from the economic impact that
the lockdown has brought,” said Ann
Watson, CEO of Enginuity. “It is vital
that we take collective action now to
ensure that experienced engineers are not
lost from the economy and that for our
young people and economic future that
apprenticeships are protected to the full.”
Female training course
marks key milestone
Trainee female engineers at The
Sheeld College are celebrating a
major milestone.
It is one year since they signed
up to the newly launched Liberty Steel
Female Engineering Academy at the
College’s Olive Grove campus.
Run in partnership with Liberty
Speciality Steels, the trailblazing
academy opened last September to
address engineering skills shortages.
Students have developed the
knowledge and skills to succeed in the
engineering sector, with a focus on
electrical technology and electronics.
Nyachieng Jok John, aged 18, joined
the academy last year and is planning
to go to university to study aerospace
engineering after her course finishes.
She said: “It’s been wonderful to be
part of the first group. We definitely need
more women in engineering. Let’s not
let fear, age, gender or anything else
stop us from dreaming big and being the
best we can. We can do it!”
During the last year, the academy’s
first cohort has gained an insight into the
engineering industry in a range of
dierent ways.
Alongside completing a BTEC
Extended Diploma in Engineering
Level 3, which is equivalent to A Levels,
students benefit from industry talks
from employers, workshops and work
experience. The course has had a high
attendance rate at 93%.
Students have completed site visits to
major local employers including Liberty
Speciality Steels and Mondelez Sheeld.
They’ve gained an insight into their
potential next steps by attending careers
talks with female engineers, including a
former university placement student at
Liberty and an employee at PCMS
Engineering. All students in the
academy have been gifted Institution
of Engineering and Technology
membership for the duration of their
course, as an additional resource to
support their studies.
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