Skills gaps: Main causes in the UK 2015

This statistic shows the distribution of the main causes of skills gaps in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2015 as a percentage of all skills gaps. The most common reasons were transient. Lack of motivation, however, was reported by employers in 34 percent of cases.

Distribution of the main causes of skills gaps in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2015* (as a percentage of all skills gaps)

Characteristic	Proportion of all skills gaps
New to role and/or training incomplete	73%
Staff are new to the role	60%
Their training is currently only partially completed	56%
Staff lack motivation	34%
They have been on training but their performance has not improved sufficiently	29%
The introduction of new working practices	28%
Unable to recruit staff with the required skills	26%
Staff have not received the appropriate training	26%
The introduction of new technology	20%
The development of new products and services	19%
Problems retaining staff	18%

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Release date

July 2016

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

March and July 2015

Number of respondents

18,265 respondents

Special properties

All establishments with skills gaps; up to two skills gaps followed up

Method of interview

Telephone interview

Supplementary notes

* A “skills gap” is defined by the source as when an employee is not fully proficient, i.e. is not able to do their job to the required level. Please see page 181 of the source report for a more detailed description.

It should be noted that employers were able to give multiple responses to this question. As such, although 75 per cent of skills gaps were at least in part due to transient issues, this does not imply that just 25 percent relate to longer-term issues.

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