HGV driver recruitment concerns raised

LOGISTICS UK head of skills policy Bethany Windsor, says: “An ageing workforce and inability to recruit is a recipe for potential disaster in the future unless action is taken now.

“The situation is being made more difficult by recent government decisions to devolve effective initiatives at a time when a long-term national approach to recruitment and retention would be more appropriate.”

Ms Windsor cites the government’s decision to discontinue centralised funding for the HGV Skills Bootcamp programme as ‘a case in point’ explaining further “The HGV Skills Bootcamp was launched in 2022 and has trained over 20,000 drivers, with a 72% job placement rate. It has been effective in attracting career switchers and the unemployed, yet all training is set to end by 30 September 2025 with responsibility shifting to devolved authorities, despite only a few regions having replacement funding in place at present.”

The government’s latest employment data shows unemployment is at its highest level since June 2021 and has increased to 4.7% in the three months to May.

Despite that, Logistics UK’s Skills and Employment Update analyses data from the first quarter of the year and identifies pressing concerns regarding HGV drivers, where the average age is 48 years old and more than half of the profession are over 50. In addition to demographic pressures, the report shows that transport operators are also facing significant difficulties in recruiting HGV drivers, with 14.5% experiencing severe or very severe issues.

The Logistics UK Skills and Employment Update Q1 2025 provides a more positive outlook for other areas of logistics and shows van drivers and forklift drivers are easier positions to fill, with 50% and 41.3% of businesses, respectively, reporting they expect “no problems” filling vacancies.