Skill Shortages Impacting London Businesses  

by Diane Williams  
30th November 2022.

As the Business Engagement Manager for Dagile, I seek every opportunity to engage with businesses and learn as much as I can about the issues affect them. Last week I attended  the launch of the London Chamber of Commerce’s Q3 Quarterly Skills Survey to gain more insight into the most current challenges facing business today.

Through previously working with SME’s, I was already aware of the chronic skills shortages preventing business growth, but I hadn’t full appreciated the extent of the problem across all sectors and business sizes and the fact that the problem is getting worse.

The skills shortages impacting London business as follows:  

• 40% say business growth is held back.
• 32% see lower turnover.
• 31% have difficulties delivering on customer or client requirements.  
• 31% see lower productivity.  
• 28% see overworked colleagues carrying the skills shortages.  
• 17% see low morale.  

A year ago, around three in five  of London firms thought they had a skills gap, now that has jumped to two-thirds of the capital’s businesses, and nearly all SME’s.

The most common areas for skills gaps were in;  

• advanced digital skills, such as programming and web design (23%)
• sales or business development (20%)
• customer service and interpersonal skills (17%)

The three biggest barriers reported by London firms to up-skilling staff were;

• insufficient budget for investment in workforce training (27%),  
• a lack of suitably skilled candidates in the job market (24%).  
• the cost of training being too high (17%).  

 With skills shortages holding back London companies’ growth prospects, and cost pressures prohibiting firms from up-skilling their workforce, the Dagile programme could be the perfect solution for many small firms.

Dagile was set up to address London’s skills shortage in digital and leadership skills. Through Dagile, businesses with London based staff can up-skill their workforce at no cost to them through our European Social Fund, part funded programme. We offer accredited Level 3 courses that match with those most in demand by employers, including Programming Fundamentals, Programming Methods, Business Planning and Leadership and Management.

Our courses offer employees a unique opportunity to upgrade their knowledge, skills and competences, while employers can support their professional development by allowing them the time to up-skill.  

The Skills Survey clearly demonstrated that the impact of skills shortages is the same across firms of all sizes – that is, restrained growth, lower turnover and lower productivity.  Businesses can act now and take advantage of the fully funded courses on the Dagile programme to overcome these challenges.

To Register, learners just need to select their course and complete the Online Registration Form.  If you’re a business and want to discuss the courses in more detail, do contact me by email or by phone on 07920 727782.

Our programme is free, but time is running out. Enrolment for our courses closes in April 2023, with all training to be complete by June 2023.

You can read the full London Chamber of Commerce’s Q3 Quarterly Skills Survey report here.