Insite, the UK’s leading logistics training partner, has warned of a looming catastrophe for UK businesses as a growing HGV driver shortage emerges following the loss of crucial driver training funding.
In the last 12 months, hundreds of Insite clients have contacted them to express fears about the concerning driver shortage, with many fearing that it could exceed the driver shortage experienced by the UK during the pandemic. This shortage peaked in 2021 and caused profound disruption to supply chains.
In response, the Department for Education (DfE) launched its Skills Bootcamps in HGV Driving initiative, offering business affordable access to driver training. Centralised funding for this scheme ended last year.
According to the Road Haulage Association, the UK must recruit and train 60,000 HGV drivers every year to meet demand.
Insite CEO James Clifford said: “In the last 12 months alone, we have been contacted by over 200 businesses with serious concerns about securing enough HGV Drivers to continue operations. The situation is so bad that it looks like it will eclipse the 2021 driver shortage in terms of scale and impact.
“The Skills Bootcamps in HGV Driving worked because they were designed to be accessible, cost effective and time efficient. The results speak for themselves. Insite alone trained more than 4,500 new HGV drivers over 1,100 different UK organisations through Skills Bootcamps. Of these, more than 85% immediately entered the workforce. But these numbers have to be sustained. Now that the supply of newly trained or upskilled drivers has dried up, businesses are already seeing the impact. It’s an alarming picture.”