Industrial Strategy Shaping Future Skills in Warehousing

Centralised skills policy has had many homes over the past twenty years. Responsibility for developing skills has been held by the Department for Education and Skills, the Department for Innovation, Universities and skills, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and finally back to the Department for Education – where it remains today. The latest government strategy shows us that the eternal tug-of-war for the ownership of skills policy between education and business-led government departments continues on. More important, however, is what this means for the warehousing sector.

The new Industrial Strategy, published in June, represents a shift back towards an employment and business-led approach to skills. Eight sectors, known as the ‘IS-8’ have been identified by the government as being particularly ‘best placed to create the wealth, jobs and higher wages our country needs’. The strategy makes clear the importance of these sectors, (advanced manufacturing; clean energy; creative industries; defence; digital and technologies; financial services; life sciences; professional and business services), by describing them as ‘absolutely essential for delivering our plan for change’. The IS-8 sectors are therefore placed at the front of the queue when it comes to government investment, support and de-regulation, with skills policy being no exception.

In fact, the strategy has promised £1.2 billion each year for skills by 2028-29, and the delivery of more opportunities to ‘learn and earn’ through short courses funded by the Growth and Skills Levy, previously the Apprenticeship Levy.

Expanding the levy to include access to shorter, flexible courses is something UKWA have consistently campaigned for. We know that inflexibility and restrictions in accessing the Levy has led to employers across the industry struggling to tap into funding for the training that would benefit their current and future workforce. The levy has for too long been viewed by many in the warehousing sector as simply another tax to pay.

Yet, flexibility to the levy being introduced via the Industrial Strategy to fund shorter courses is, so far, being restricted to IS-8 sectors – in this case defence, digital and engineering. This leaves warehousing and logistics businesses, described within the strategy as making ‘a vital contribution to the UK economy and the competitiveness of the iS-8’, questioning if they are in fact any better off than they were before, when it comes to being able to make efficient use of levy funds.

The government maintains that Skills England, an arms-length body of the Department for Education, holds ultimate responsibility for skills. Yet, it is clear that the Industrial Strategy, led by the Department for Business and Trade, is to at least some extent driving skills policy development and prioritisation. Balance between the two is key – industry and education must work in tandem to develop evidence-based, accessible training opportunities to address growing skills gaps.

Prioritising skills investment and flexibility concessions for certain high-potential sectors may, as the government is keen to reiterate, supercharge growth. On the other hand, the government should be wary of putting all of their proverbial eggs in the IS-8 basket, to the detriment of the very sectors that are foundational to IS-8 growth and without whom it would not be possible.

We welcome recognition of the sector within the broader strategy and the promise to consult on and subsequently deliver a new plan for freight and logistics later this year. It is clear that sectors which are foundational to, but lay outside of the IS-8, such as warehousing and logistics, should receive similar and proportionate concessions when it comes to skills funding and policy development as is being afforded to those within the IS-8. UKWA will continue to make the case for this throughout our engagement with government and in the development of the new freight and logistics plan.