IMI urges Andy Burnham to deliver on Labour promises
The Institute of the Motor Industry has urged new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to address the automotive skills crisis as a priority.
It has said the skills crisis in the industry is a threat to road safety, but the Labour government has so far ignored the deepening issue.
It warned that without urgent action, the gap between the complexity of modern vehicles and the competence of the workforce maintaining them will continue to widen.
The IMI has now called on the government to take the following steps:
- Embed automotive in the reindustrialisation strategy – the sector employs 866,000 people and generates £37bn in annual GVA, so cannot be treated as a footnote within a broader manufacturing category
- Consistency on ZEV policy – the government must make clear that the transition to electric vehicles is irreversible and that skills investment must accelerate accordingly
- Mandating of the IMI TechSafe Standard – the government must ensure all technicians working on safety-critical aspects of vehicles on UK roads hold a recognised competence qualification
- Apprenticeship reform – the government must ensure reforms maintainrigorous, independent end-point assessment, as well as protecting the depth and quality of training
- Automotive Skills – the sector’s workforce needs must be explicitly named and resourced within Skills England.
Skills gap
Nick Connor, CEO of the IMI, said: “We congratulate Andy Burnham on becoming Prime Minister and we genuinely welcome his stated commitment to re-industrialisation and to technical and vocational skills.
“However, before the general election, Labour promised to champion the motor industry – a sector fundamental to the UK’s economy and its social infrastructure. Two years on, that promise has not been delivered, and the skills gap in our sector has become a road safety issue.
“Vehicles are changing faster than at any point in history – electrification, connected systems, automated driving technology. The people who maintain, repair and recover them must be demonstrably competent, yet apprenticeship starts are falling and qualification levels are nowhere near where demand requires.
“The new Prime Minister has an immediate opportunity to put this right: mandate IMI TechSafe, protect the rigour of automotive apprenticeships, and give our 800,000-strong workforce the recognition and investment it deserves. The IMI is ready to work with him from day one.”
