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Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are vital to UK Automotive manufacturing, ensuring that young people continue to take up careers in the industry. This is crucial not only to address the sector’s current skills shortage but also ensure that a flexible, highly skilled and productive workforce is maintained for years to come.

Automotive Apprenticeship Matching Service (AAMS)

The Automotive Apprenticeship Matching Service was established by the Automotive Industrial Partnership (AIP) to develop a skilled workforce for the future. The Matching Service re-directs high quality talent from over-subscribed automotive apprenticeship programmes to other companies within the sector that have similar opportunities. Working with both companies and candidates, the mission of the AAMS is to ensure that talent is retained within the automotive industry.

Apprenticeship Levy

SMMT is working closely with members, government and other industry stakeholders to ensure that the Apprenticeship Levy, due to come in to force in 2017, will support the uptake of high-quality automotive apprenticeships.

The Levy will apply to all UK businesses, with the money generated used to fund new apprenticeships.

It will be set at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s gross pay bill, with each employer receiving a £15,000 allowance – effectively meaning only those with pay bills in excess of £3 million will pay. The Levy will be collected through PAYE and put back in the hands of employers through a newly developed Digital Apprenticeship Service. Government will also apply a 10% top-up to monthly funds entering levy paying employers’ digital accounts, for apprenticeship training in England.

Automotive Industrial Partnership

SMMT works closely with both its members and government to ensure that the automotive industry has a strong voice in skills policy development. An important partner in this area is the Automotive Council, a government–industry initiative to promote and grow the UK Automotive industry and its Skills Working Group.

A key success of the Skills Working Group is the creation of the Automotive Industrial Partnership (AIP). The AIP brings automotive businesses together to collaborate on addressing the skills needs of the sector.

Key activities of the AIP have included the development of an industry approved jobs framework; the publication of two automotive skills reports to identify current skills provisions and requirements to meet the needs of a growing automotive industry; and the development of the Automotive Apprenticeship Matching Service.

Skills Engagement at a European Level

As well as engaging on skills policy issues at a national level, SMMT is involved in a number of European skills initiatives.

For example, SMMT provided a UK perspective to the European Sector Skills Council for Employment and Skills in the Automotive Industry – an 18 month EU Project bringing together industry, policy makers, educational institutions and policy makers to tackle the Automotive industry’s skills challenge. You can read the findings of the Council in the Group’s final report.

SMMT also engages with the European Commission’s GEAR 2030 initiative, the High Level Group on the Automotive Industry, feeding into the skills work streams.

Encouraging Careers in Automotive

Other Skills Issues

The automotive industry offers a vast range of highly-skilled careers in a modern, advanced manufacturing environment. In order to address predicted skills shortages, SMMT works with government and key stakeholders to change outdated perceptions of the sector and encourage more people to choose a career in the automotive industry.

Foyer Federation project

Since 2012, SMMT’s Charitable Trust has supported the Foyer Federation in delivering a Working Assets project for the automotive sector. The project builds and supports partnerships between UK automotive businesses and local ‘Foyers’.

The scheme provides less advantaged young people with an opportunity to learn about the career opportunities in the sector, while developing new skills that will help them become more employable, and ultimately independent, adults. Since the project began, SMMT and the Foyer Federation have helped more than 200 young people across the UK.

Women In Automotive

Encouraging more female employees is a priority for the sector, with research by the Automotive Council finding that women working in automotive manufacturing are outnumbered by men three to one. In addition in the UK as a whole, just 9% of UK engineering employees are female – the lowest proportion in Europe. Fewer than 16% of British engineering and technology undergraduates are currently women.

It is essential for the UK automotive industry to utilise this untapped skills potential, ensuring the automotive workforce is a diverse one and to continue the sector’s record growth. To help raise awareness of successful women in the industry and to encourage more to join it, SMMT has partnered with motoring publication Autocar in an initiative to identify the 100 most influential British women working in the car industry.

Developing The Skills Needs Of Tomorrow

Developments in low carbon and connected and autonomous technologies offer significant environmental, social, industrial and economic opportunities to UK automotive.  In order to take full advantage of these opportunities, SMMT is focused on ensuring that future technologies are intrinsically linked to the skills agenda, cementing the UK’s position at the forefront of these innovative sectors.