While students across the country are nervously awaiting their post-16 results tomorrow, they will certainly be thinking about what comes next. Whether they have secured a place at their chosen university or a coveted apprenticeship scheme, it will be their first step towards their future careers.

This is, of course, an opportune time for organisations to also start to attract talent to enter their field – which for many will be a necessity. For key sectors such as healthcare and education through to specialist industries such as sustainability and digital, skills gaps and challenges with recruitment are continuing to grow.

More often than not, a vital approach will be to ensure young people are receiving the knowledge, skills, training and experience to be able to enter these sectors. The importance of creating these strong talent pipelines has also continued to be recognised at Government level, with the Labour Party announcing the launch of Skills England. The new agency is poised to work closely with employers to provide more opportunities for learners to develop skillsets to secure high-quality employment which are aligned with the needs of the wider economy.

Skills England will undoubtedly be focused on supporting vital industries with growing skills gaps – but the questions remain how are challenges with recruitment overcome? How can skills gaps be addressed? What needs to be the role of the HE and FE sectors? And the role of businesses themselves?

Below each of our specialist practice areas, including education, health and social care as well as the green economy have identified the salient challenges facing each sector and have outlined what is required to address these growing skills and recruitment gaps.

Education

• Schools are facing increased teacher recruitment and retention challenges, with teacher vacancies increasing by 20 per cent and the workforce only growing by 0.1 per cent from 2022 to 2023. Fewer young people are pursuing the profession and those who do join are likely to leave within the first few years of qualifying. In fact, only 42 per cent of teachers remain in the profession for 10 or more years after qualifying, usually choosing to leave  due to low salaries, high workloads, poor student behaviour and accountability pressures.
• While the Government has recently announced an increase in wages and put into place support for schools to manage workloads, shifting the image of the profession will be hard to recover from. In order to attract new teachers, a targeted campaign from those within the Government and across the sector could amplify to young people the benefits of becoming a teacher and how rewarding the profession can be. This would involve working closely with school and Trust leaders to promote the importance of the profession and the different career paths available to those who enter the sector.

Early Years

• The early years sector is facing asignificant shortage of qualified practitioners, primarily due to poor pay and the perception of limited long-term career prospects, only to be intensified as the Government works to implement its scheme to provide 30-hours of funded childcare a As we look to close the skills gap and increase the number of practitioners in the early years sector, we should focus on how we can improve the quality of both training and skills for the early years profession, as a means to improve the provision of early years education. The sector could start by identifying the key skills needed for providing high-quality early years education, whether that is training on identifying SEND needs in children, or supporting parents to create a high-quality home learning environment, and come together to design what these qualifications should look like for the early years sector. This could involve implementing additional short-course credentials for existing practitioners, lobbying for a qualified teacher status specifically for the early years sector, or a combination of both.
• Closing this gap begins much earlier than further or higher education. It’s important that clearer pathways for working in the early years sector are established beginning at the GCSE level, and more partnerships between educational institutions and early years providers could be made to make students more aware of the long-term career opportunities in the sector.

Health and Social Care

• A core challenge facing the health and social care sector is recruitment and retention. The number of people newly recruited to the sector in no way reflects the number of vacancies that already exist, or the rate at which new roles will need to be created and filled to keep pace with the growing demand for care. For social care in particular, the situation has reached the point of crisis.
• As those in the sector know, caring can be difficult and demanding, and public perceptions of social care careers remain largely negative, causing providers to struggle to attract and retain young workers. There needs to be a wholesale transformation of societal understandings of social care careers and a meaningful drive from the government to support retention.
• Whilst Nursing shortages impact both the NHS and care providers, there is strong anecdotal evidence that historic misconceptions of what social care Nursing entails, coupled with alack of Nursing Degrees and Master courses with dedicated social care components, continues to deter young people from exploring these career options.
• Young adult carers are currently 59 per cent more likely to apply to health and social care courses at colleges or university. Young carers have some of the greatest understanding and familiarity with social care, and this appreciation of its value is perhaps what drives them so distinctly towards working in the sector. Expanding this recognition to more young people, through promoting the rewarding and varied nature of social care careers in schools and positively transforming the way social care is discussed in the media and in politics, may help to encourage the scale of recruitment the sector so desperately needs.

Housing and Built Environment

• The UK housing and built environment sector is undeniably grappling with a severe skills shortage, posing a major threat to the Labour government’s plan of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. According to PwC, an additional 400,000 workers are needed to meet net zero targets alone, which is a staggering 30 per cent more than the available workforce from the oil-and-gas sector.
• This situation is further exacerbated by a 14 percent decline in the construction workforce over the past five years. To bridge this gap, collaboration between educational institutions and industry is crucial to developing specialised training programmes and expand apprenticeships. Programmes like CITB’s SkillBuild are vital in promoting vocational training, while initiatives to engage schools are key to attracting young talent by showcasing the diverse roles within construction.
• Moreover, the provision of robust apprenticeship schemes that provide clear career paths and long-term employment prospects are essential to making the construction industry more appealing to young people while ensuring they are equipped with the necessary skills for future projects.

Green Economy

• During the recent general election, Labour’s pledge to transform Britain into a clean energy superpower was central to their campaign. At the heart of this approach is Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan, which aims to create 650,000 jobs across the country by 2030 through investments in future industries.
• While Labour has already made strides towards these goals, their ambitious plans face a critical challenge: the UK is experiencing a severe shortage of skilled workers essential for the green revolution. The country urgently needs more skilled engineers, electricians, and workers to realise its green ambitions. Without addressing this skills gap, the transition to a green economy—and the job creation it promises—could be at risk.
• Addressing this skills gap will require a targeted solution. With 80 per cent of the 2030 workforce already in employment, upskilling existing workers is crucial. Further Education (FE) colleges, private training academies, and universities must play pivotal roles in delivering this training.
• Moreover, a clearer pipeline into emerging sectors is essential. This includes facilitating collaboration between industries and educational institutions to align curricula with industry needs. Apprenticeships and Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) are vital for entry into key green sectors like construction and engineering. Higher education will also play a significant role in preparing the workforce for senior roles in decarbonising sectors, with a growing demand for sustainability professionals and STEM graduates.
• Ultimately, to bridge the skills gap within the green economy, stronger partnerships between businesses and educational institutions are essential, along with policy changes and efforts to promote green jobs as a viable and rewarding career path.

Digital Skills

• While the number of students taking GCSE Computer Science has increased from just 1,745 in 2012 to nearly 94,000 in 2024, and despite established pathways for traditional computer science careers, there remains a significant gap in further and higher education pathways for careers in the creative digital sphere.

  Improving access to digital education is essential for building a strong pipeline of skilled workers and, according to Dell, over one-third of Gen Zers feel their schools did not adequately prepare them with the digital skillsneeded for careers in digital marketing, AI, advertising, website development and SEO.

• So, how can we address the digital skills gap? First and foremost, integrate emerging technologies and digital creative skills into school curricula by introducing subjects such as marketing, copywriting, digital marketing, SEO, graphic design, and video production at an earlier stage. This needs to be coupled with increased Awareness. Work also needs to be done to create clearer pathways into the digital industry by sharing resources and training across the digital spectrum. This will help broaden the understanding of what careers in digital can look like.
• Finally, investment needs to be made to create digitally-focused apprenticeships and mentorships. Programmes that offer hands-on experience and career guidance are crucial. For example, PLMR’s Lucy Somers, Deputy Group Director of Digital, successfully advanced her career through such pathways. Lucy’s career in digital marketing had been shaped by a hands-on apprenticeship which bridged the gap between theory and practice.
• As businesses and young people alike recognise the critical importance of these skills, a unified effort to modernise education and expand opportunities is essential for building the diverse, skilled workforce of the future.