Automotive Industrial Partnership
The Automotive Industrial Partnership is an industry collaboration supported by the government that was launched in 2015 to ensure the UK’s automotive sector has the pipeline of skills talent it needs now and for the future.
Along with Enginuity, the employers driving the Automotive Industrial Partnership include Bentley, BMW, Ford, GKN, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall and industry trade association the SMMT.
A range of innovative approaches to tackle the industry’s skills challenges at all stages are being developed and delivered. This includes initiatives to encourage more young people to consider careers in the industry, supporting up-skilling, progression and the retention of talent in the sector.
Activities include:
- Commissioning skills research – to provide a detailed insight into the current and future skills needs of the industry
- Launching the Automotive Apprenticeship Matching Service – to redirect high quality talent from over-subscribed automotive apprenticeship programmes to other companies within the sector that have opportunities
- Developing an industry standard job framework and template job descriptions – to bring consistency and a common understanding of job roles and industry skills requirements and showcase the diversity of automotive career opportunities
- Piloting new training solutions – to address industry skills requirements.
Skills Research
A detailed analysis of the learning provision currently available to meet the skills priorities of the UK’s automotive manufacturing sector was conducted by Semta on behalf of the Automotive Industrial Partnership. It reveals that skills shortages are most likely to impact on manufacturing and engineering job roles. Another key finding is that there is a need for more specialised automotive tailored solutions, including apprenticeships.
Some specific LEP areas with significant automotive employment lag behind other areas in meeting local employer skills demand, underlining the importance of coordinated intervention to address shortfalls.