The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) includes a commitment to build up to 12 new attack submarines, six new munitions factories and 7,000 domestically built long-range weapons.
Andrew Kinniburgh, director general of defence manufacturers’ lobby group Make UK Defence, said there are an estimated 5,000 welding vacancies in the defence industry. There are another 5,000 welder vacancies in non-military roles in the civil nuclear industry, he said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey have announced the UK will build 12 new nuclear submarines to bolster the UK’s military (Photo: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street)
“It can’t be ignored, clearly, the skills gap. It needs to be addressed and grasped,” said Kinniburgh.
“If we ignore it [the skills gap], we’re putting the SDR at risk, I think. But nobody’s ignoring it.”
Welding training centers are already being set up by defence giants, including BAE Systems and Babcock, to help boost domestic workers.
“[Vacancies] are currently being fulfilled by people in the Philippines, Bulgaria, Poland, all around the world, there are welders coming into the UK because of the shortages,” Kinniburgh said.
A report by Axiom Personnel, a specialist recruiter in construction, found around half of all UK welders are set to retire by 2027, creating more than 35,000 jobs.
Construction work on HMS Venturer (top) and HMS Active at Babcock’s dockyard in Rosyth (Photo Andrew Milligan/PA)Defence trade association ADS Group have called for a “skills-passport” to relax visa rules between the three AUKUS countries – the UK, US and Australia – and create a skill-sharing initiative “because it is such a niche specialism”.
“Welding is one area. Engineers is another. Computer scientists is another,” the spokesperson said. “Will not being able to get the right people impact our ability to deliver the SDR? Absolutely.”
The 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines outlined in the SDR are due to be built at the Barrow shipyard.
How the UK’s nuclear arsenal compares to Russia’s (Photo: The i Paper)
“They’re very highly skilled, especially the nuclear-rated welders,” they said.
“So people are traveling a long way to go to places like Barrow to be a welder.”
The firm is constructing the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates at its Rosyth dockyard and is also using robot welders to speed up production.
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“It absolutely links to the direction of travel in the SDR, because you’ve seen the announcement of up to 12 submarines. We’re obviously involved in that.
Apprentices will use state-of-the-art technology such as augmented reality alongside traditional welding to learn high-skilled techniques required for the defence giant’s most complex systems.
“The Government has signaled that they want to invest in and have a really strong military. To do that, they need to have a really strong UK industry behind them.”
It estimates that the workforce, including welders, will increase from around 47,000 to 65,000 by 2030.
“We are also continuing to bolster our talent pipeline through the recruitment of a further 2,400 new apprentices, undergraduates and graduates in the UK this year alone.”
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