A Westminster Hall debate has been scheduled for 20 October on manufacturing skills. The subject for this debate has been chosen by the Backbench Business Committee and it will be opened by Richard Quigley MP.
Surveys of businesses indicate that skills shortages are a persistent issue in the manufacturing sector, particularly in advanced manufacturing.
The Employer Skills Survey (ESS) 2024 surveyed over 22,000 employers across the UK about recruitment difficulties, skills shortages, workforce skills gaps and investment in training.
The survey measures skill-shortage vacancies, which are vacancies that employers find difficult to fill because applicants lack the required skills, qualifications or experience.
In 2024, manufacturing had the joint third-highest proportion of skill-shortage vacancies of any sector. Around a third (34%) of vacancies in manufacturing were difficult to fill due to a lack of suitably skilled applicants, compared with 27% across the UK economy.
There were an estimated 17,800 skill-shortage vacancies in manufacturing, accounting for 7% of all skill-shortage vacancies across the UK.
As these figures are based on a sample survey, they are estimates rather than exact counts.
Make UK, the organisation representing UK manufacturers, published a report on The Shape of British Industry in March 2026.
The report raises concerns about whether the education system could meet future skills needs. Just over half (53%) of manufacturers believed Britain’s education system could provide enough workers with the required skills over the next decade, while 39% did not. (page 15)
It found that around half of manufacturers said skills shortages were their biggest barrier to growth in both 2010 and 2026, suggesting that skills shortages have been a persistent challenge for the sector. (page 26)
The report also highlighted changing skills requirements in manufacturing. While traditional technical skills, such as welding and engineering, remain important, manufacturers increasingly require digital and technological skills.
Looking ahead to the next decade, 49% of manufacturers said cybersecurity skills were a requirement for their business, followed by artificial intelligence (AI) skills (48%) and automation and robotics (45%). (page 14)
Skills England’s 2026 assessment of advanced manufacturing, updated in October 2026, examined current and future skills needs in the sector.
Advanced manufacturing refers to industries that use advanced science and technology to make products, such as aerospace and battery manufacturing.
It identified 25 priority occupations for advanced manufacturing, including engineers, technicians, programmers and skilled metal and electrical workers. Of these occupations, 71% were classed as being in elevated or critical demand across the UK economy, compared with 51% of all occupations assessed by Skills England in 2025.
The assessment also highlighted competition for skilled workers from other sectors, particularly in engineering and digital occupations.
Skills England estimated that around 148,000 workers would be needed in these priority occupations by 2035. This included 47,000 additional workers to meet projected employment growth and 101,000 to replace workers leaving these occupations.
The Department for Education publishes quarterly data on apprenticeships in England, as well as figures for each full academic year.
In 2024/25, the most recent full academic year for which data is available, there were 5,979 apprenticeship starts in the manufacturing technologies sector in England. This accounted for 1.7% of all apprenticeship starts.
There were also 3,335 apprenticeship achievements in the sector (1.7% of all achievements).
More recent data, covering August 2025 to April 2026, shows that there were 5,287 apprenticeship starts in the manufacturing technologies sector (1.7% of all starts) and 2,158 achievements (1.5% of all achievements).
According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) workforce jobs data, there were approximately 2.46 million jobs in UK manufacturing in June 2026, accounting for 6.7% of all jobs.
An industry’s contribution to the economy can be measured using gross value added (GVA). GVA measures the value of goods and services produced, minus the cost of the goods and services used to produce them.
According to ONS data, manufacturing generated £59.6 billion in GVA in the quarter ending June 2026, accounting for 8.3% of the UK’s total GVA.
In June 2025, the government published its Modern Industrial Strategy, a 10-year plan to encourage business investment and support growth in eight priority sectors, known as the IS-8.
Advanced manufacturing is one of these sectors. Alongside the strategy, the government published an Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, which identifies skills shortages as a significant barrier to economic growth.
Section 1.3 of the plan sets out measures intended to address skills shortages in manufacturing. Some of these are specifically aimed at manufacturing, and others are wider skills initiatives intended to benefit several Industrial Strategy sectors. (pages 24–26)
The measures set out in the plan include:
Further information on wider government skills policies is available in the Commons Library briefing Skills policy in England.
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