Levy may make one in 10 firms cut apprentices

ACUTE skills shortages in Scotland are holding back businesses across all regions, according to this year’s CBI/ Pearson Education and Skills survey.

The UK-wide survey of nearly 500 companies, 186 in Scotland, was completed before the EU referendum and shows firms anticipating a growing skills gap.

The Apprenticeship Levy is a particular worry, with firms wanting the flexibility to deliver the training they need while getting their money back if they show commitment to long-term investment in skills. One in 10 say they are likely to cut numbers of apprenticeships to meet levy costs.

Over three quarters of businesses operating in Scotland expect to have more jobs for people with higher-level skills over the coming years, and 70per cent will need more people with leadership and management skills..

Firms in Scotland are committed to developing talent in-house: with only 38per cent of training done externally, the majority use an in-house dedicated training and development budget (82per cent), mentoring and coaching opportunities (76per cent) or support employees to study part-time (70per cent)

But there is a concern about future shortages: over two-thirds of businesses in Scotland (69per cent) are not confident about filling their high-skilled jobs in future.