Blogs

(Reflecting on articles highlighted in recent STEM Community News posts) 

The UK is facing a pivotal moment. Labour shortages in trades, pressures from the green transition, and a demographic squeeze are merging- just as the government unveils its 2025 Industrial Strategy: Plan for Change, setting out a ten-year vision for economic renewal. But without further reform in vocational education and skills training, the government’s ambition for a ‘strong, secure, sustainable’ economy may falter. 

New articles, data from the new OECD Employment Outlook 2025, and some of the findings from the APPG for T Levels, paint a challenging picture: the UK cannot achieve its industrial, environmental, or social goals without an adequately skilled workforce. 

1. Trade Shortfalls Threaten Industrial Strategy Goals 

Richard Partington’s recent article in The Guardian (2025) highlights an expected trade shortfall, driven partly by a lack of skilled tradespeople to deliver clean energy and housing upgrades. Additionally, Construction News warns that the boom in demand for green construction roles- from electricians to retrofit specialists- continues to outpace the available workforce. 

This directly threatens the Industrial Strategy 2025, which centres on clean energy, AI, and life sciences as drivers of long-term growth. The strategy commits to creating a highly skilled and economically vibrant UK, with foundational industries like construction and electricity at the heart of the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable economy. 

But these aspirations are ambitious. 

2. OECD Outlook: Shrinking Workforce, Rising Skills Demand 

The OECD Employment Outlook 2025 reinforces these concerns. The report reveals: 

In the UK context, this trend clashes directly with the strategy’s aim to enhance skills access and create a strong pipeline of talent. The OECD recommends doubling down on lifelong learning, adult retraining, and workplace-based education- a message echoed by UK industry leaders. 

3. T Levels and Apprenticeships: Infrastructure Still Lagging Behind Vision 

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for T Levels convened recently to discuss one of the government’s flagship technical qualifications- and also associated barriers. T Levels offer a combination of academic learning and industry placements- but several challenges persist: 

Providers such as JTL Training, which specialise in electrical and plumbing apprenticeships, report serious bottlenecks due to underrepresentation of women and barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion- providing further challenge. This undermines the Industrial Strategy’s ambition to increase investment in domestic talent, boost economic security, and raise living standards through better access to good jobs and training. 

4. Decline in University Participation: The "New Grad Gap" 

A powerful visual shared by Darren Coxon at the STEM Learning AI & Digital Conference (2025) underscored a fundamental shift: a projected drop in university participation, drawn from The Atlantic’s article “The New Grad Gap.” This suggests a turning point in public sentiment. More young people are looking for practical, affordable pathways into work- making the case for apprenticeships, T Levels, and green skills programmes even stronger. 

But the infrastructure to support this shift isn’t entirely there yet. 

5. The Path Forward: Aligning Skills Reform with Industrial Strategy 

The Industrial Strategy 2025 is built on bold goals: to increase investment, strengthen domestic businesses, and lead in clean energy, AI, and advanced manufacturing. A central pillar of this is the reform of the skills and support system- but the current workforce pipeline cannot deliver the scale required. 

Policy priorities must now include: 

These steps are essential not only to deliver net-zero infrastructure but also to respond to the cost-of-living crisis by creating new, high-quality jobs and opportunities for upskilling. 

6. The Industrial Strategy Skills Commission: Turning Policy Into Practice 

A significant development complementing the Industrial Strategy was the launch of the Industrial Strategy Skills Commission by Make UK in November 2024. Co-chaired by former Skills Minister Robert Halfon and Baron Tom Watson, the Commission brings together leading figures from industry, education, and government to directly tackle the growing skills deficit in UK manufacturing and engineering. 

With over 58,000 unfilled vacancies and apprenticeship starts down 42% since the Apprenticeship Levy’s introduction, the Commission aims to create actionable solutions by examining best practice, gathering nationwide evidence, and shaping the new Skills and Growth Levy. Its focus includes reversing the decline in technical teaching staff, improving sector perception, and designing a talent pipeline that supports growth across all regions. 

This Commission represents the most targeted and cross-sectoral effort yet to align industrial policy with education reform- and underscores the urgency of embedding a dynamic, inclusive skills agenda into the national economic framework. 

Conclusion: The Industrial Strategy Will Fail Without a Skills Revolution 

The UK’s Industrial Strategy 2025 sets out a credible vision for growth, renewal, and sustainability. But that vision rests on an unstable foundation if the vocational education and training system is not scaled, funded, and modernised. 

From the OECD’s global warnings to domestic struggles with T Level implementation, and now the proactive work of the Industrial Strategy Skills Commission, the message is clear: the UK must urgently prioritise skills policy as economic policy. This means treating apprenticeships, T Levels, and green job training as core infrastructure- not optional extras.