New Prime Minister Theresa May must combat the looming skills crisis by prioritising the introduction of new initiatives to attract workers into the utilities sector, urges a training specialist.
UK prime minister Theresa May at Number 10 Downing Street. Credit Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Chris Wood, CEO of Training Limited DTL, the UK’s leading training specialist in the utilities sector, comments: “The skills shortage in the UK is a catastrophe waiting to happen, one that literally threatens to turn out Britain’s lights.
“A solution to the twin problems of a chronic skills shortage in our utilities industry and high youth unemployment is obvious, train young people to take the places of the ageing workforce, but it just isn’t happening at anything like the rate that it needs to be.
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“The new PM and her Cabinet must make it a government priority to look into ways to correct this issue as a matter of extreme urgency.
“As householders and businesses in the UK wonder about a post-Brexit future, they should remember that the utilities sector is still facing a potentially devastating skills shortage. The sector is constantly on a recruitment drive but is simply not receiving the response it requires.
“We all need confidence that our lights will stay on, our heating will continue to keep our houses warm and our taps keep providing running water, but the day is fast approaching when there will simply not be enough workers to do these vital jobs,” added Chris Wood.
