The U.K. Government announced new skills boot camps on 21 May to help close the ‘skills gap’ in the British economy. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, announced the measures in a major speech about British workers, migration and benefits. So what are skills bootcamps, and how can your business benefit?
Stride used his speech last Tuesday to announce a number of reforms the government would like to see in the U.K.’s workforce. In particular, he spoke about the importance of increasing the use of British workers, and reducing reliance on foreign workers, setting three goals:
- Tackle economic inactivity, getting more people off welfare and into work.
- Unlock British talent as part of a new economic model that moves away from a reliance on overseas labour.
- Create a benefit system that is fit for the future – sustainable, fair, and compassionate.
Skills Bootcamps
To increase economic activity in British workers, Stride’s focused on the extension of so-called skills bootcamps. Skills bootcamps are courses of up to 16 weeks for workers 19 years or older to improve their employability. They are already offered in a wide range of domains such as digital skills, business and health and social care and Tuesday’s announcement is set to expand this even further.
Pointing to the success of skills bootcamps in addressing the HSV driver shortage in 2021, Stride explained that the government will launch a major advertising campaign over Television, Radio and online to promote awareness. Additionally, he announced a new focus to improve partnerships between Job Centres and employers to target the most needed skills. This will all be funded by an additional £34 million boost in funding for the scheme.
Employers should note how they can benefit from Boot camps. With generous government funding, they offer a cheap and effective way of onboarding skilled staff. Recruiting a graduate of a skills bootcamp is free to the employer. Additionally, training an existing employee through the scheme requires a contribution of only between 10 and 30%.
Immigration Reforms
Whilst upskilling the domestic workforce, the government also aims to reduce the dependence on foreign workers. Following recent net migration figures of 685,000 last year, Stride also used his speech to discuss new policies for reducing migration. These include increasing the salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700 and restricting accompanying dependents.
And my message is also to the British people: For too long we have relied on labour from abroad and there is a great talent pool here – right here – in the UK – I am going to put that right.
Mel Stride
Overhauling Disability Payments
Stride used the end of his speech to talk about those out of work due to a disability. As set out in the health and disability green paper, the government aims to reform the disability benefits systems, especially regarding mental health disability. The paper emphasises that the number of personal independence payments, PIPs, has skyrocketed since their introduction in 2013. In fact 23% of the adult population now reports a disability, and there are 33 000 new awards for PIP each month. This is largely due to an increasing number of applications for depression and anxiety.
The reality is that the welfare system was, in part, built for a different age.
Mel Stride
Stride emphasised that the growing trend poses significant challenges to the financing of such payments. To limit costs, he suggests the government will use a more targeted approach. Future payments may be one-off, instead of a steady monthly allowance, in a so-called tailoring of the scheme to individuals needs.
How this will be implemented before the general election is still unclear.