Investing in domestic workers won’t solve labour crisis, says UK business lobby

One of the UK’s biggest lobby groups has condemned UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s advice to businesses to invest in “domestic workforce”, stated reports on Sunday (29), saying this will not solve the current acute labour shortage which in turn is disrupting supply chains in the country.

Institute of Directors (IoD), said to be the UK’s leading voice for company directors, has called on the government to bring in new, flexible visas that will allow foreign workers to step in to fill crucial roles, particularly as lorry drivers, after an exodus of workers due to Covid and Brexit.

“Whilst UK business should certainly be investing in the skills and capabilities of the domestic workforce, that is unlikely to be a solution to short-term labour market shortages,” said Roger Barker, the IoD’s director of policy, who added that the government needs to adopt a more “pragmatic approach, including a more flexible visa regime, which alleviates some of the current pressures on business”.

IoD’s statement came a couple of days after Kwarteng asked business leaders in a letter addressed to the British Retail Consortium and Logistics UK to utilise “domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad”.

A reported lack of lorry drivers- partly due to Breit and pandemic- has left many retailers and food chain players, including McDonald’s, KFC, Nandos,  struggling with supplies and key ingredients.

The supply crisis has also been forcing many companies to increase the wages of heavy good vehicle (HGV) drivers. Waitrose, for instance, has claimed that it is offering lorry drivers an average salary of £45,000 for a 45 to 48 hour week- the same salaries as its senior executives, reports said.

Many other firms are also offering joining bonuses of up to  £1,000 to attract more people to work as HGV drivers.

Last week, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reported that stock levels in August had fallen to their lowest level since retail industry trends were first tracked nearly four decades ago.