The Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement, with its concerted focus on ‘stability, growth and public services’, juncture included some welcome news for the sector, reaffirming its view that tech is an engine of growth for the UK.
Of late, we have seen several programmes seeking to boost and demonstrate commitment to the UK’s digital infrastructure, not least investment via Project Gigabit – which will ensure the UK is geared towards accelerating its digital economy soon. The country’s ambition to reach at least 85% gigabit-capable broadband coverage by 2025 is ambitious but a positive move for the UK economy as consumers and businesses are likely to move towards digital products more ardently in the coming years.
However, the promise of investment in infrastructure won’t be enough on its own for the UK to meet its digital potential, particularly given current economic headwinds. This is something we are increasingly mindful of, knowing that people and skills are key to unlocking digital growth. The Government must be doing everything it can to support training and upskilling.
As the Chancellor himself pointed out during his Statement, despite around 50% of adults being educated at the tertiary level, the UK underperforms on basic and technical skills compared to similarly developed countries.
The Government has promised to continue its support for educational schemes like T-Levels and Technical Qualifications to build a future pipeline of digital talent. But it also needs to do more to incentivise and stimulate the same support from the private sector – particularly those that have a heavy reliance on tech and can provide potential opportunities for young people.
The benefits of such moves could be wide-ranging. A PwC report from earlier this year noted that the tech skills gap facing the UK has held the country back from fully realising the benefits of digitalisation programmes. However, it went on to stress that “policy interventions promoting upskilling and training could, therefore, drive GDP growth through digital upskilling by as much as £63bn a year.”
With the latest data from the OBR finding that the UK is now officially in recession (something likely to last more than a year and result in unemployment rising by 500,000), such upskilling and retraining programmes in tech and data could result in billions of pounds in additional revenue and may contribute towards the UK exiting recession earlier than predicted.
But to fully realise the country’s digital potential, there must be a more concerted and collaborative approach between government, academia, and industry to cultivate and support those who demonstrate a passion for tech and are working towards strengthening digital infrastructure.
This has happened in China, with an ING report identifying that the digitisation of industry in the country – when supported by government policies – can provide an opportunity for growth. This, its reporting found, could help the overall digital economy grow by an average of 16% per year over the next decade. Surely this is not something the UK can ignore?
While taking such steps is not quick and requires all involved to take a people-focused approach, we may see those in the private sector take earlier strides to move forward before the policy is ready. Creating a solid, person-oriented foundation within an organisation – for example by offering self-funded initiatives like a graduate programme, paid internships, and community outreach via tech events and workshops – may set the tone for what’s to come.
Such efforts are likely to be well rewarded too. As an example, we have always focused on our people and invested heavily in their development. At a time when data from Equinix has found that 67% of IT decision-makers in the UK view a shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business, we are finding that the opposite is true.
Indeed, our business is bucking wider industry hiring trends, recruiting on average 30-40 people into our team each month. As a result, we recently announced that our workforce will rise to 550 people and reach a revenue run rate above £40 million by mid-2023.
There are, however, several other organisations recognising their role in boosting the future digital economy and are already creating opportunities or upskilling those with a passion for tech.
Programmes like CodeClan, a digital boot camp in Scotland aimed at upskilling those interested in software development and data analysis, as well as initiatives emerging from within academia like the Digital Education Service at the University of Leeds, are each playing their part in seeking to plug the UK’s tech skills gap. In the case of CodeClan, 400 people per year move through their programmes, demonstrating how with a concerted effort and considered investment, the tech skills gap could reduce from a massive crevice to a mere dip.
The combined power of infrastructure PLUS people is a must as we all work to ensure the UK is considered a strong and competitive digital economy. One will not work without the other.
