The UK’s Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) launched a manifesto during an event at the House of Commons on 24 April. It contains recommendations aimed at tackling the UK’s professional skills shortage.

“Research from our members, trusted partners and global strategic partners such as LinkedIn are all pointing to the same issue in the UK: a severe shortage of professional skills that is only growing,” Tania Bowers, global public policy director at ASPCo, said in a press release. “Businesses are facing a critical lack of workers, with IT, digital, engineering and healthcare some of the hardest hit remits.”

It’s crucial that major political parties have a plan in place to beat the skills crisis, Bower said.

“We’ve already started engaging with key policy makers across the core political parties — many of whom were in attendance at the launch event itself — and it’s encouraging to note that these recommendations are aligned to the thinking of many MPs and policy influencers,” Bowers said. “Politicians of all parties recognised that the recruitment and outsourcing sectors play a crucial role in the strength of the labour market and the UK economy.”

According to APSCo, the four key opportunities that need to be capitalised on are:

Creating the right workforce regulatory environment through regulatory reforms which protect individual workers, drive economic growth and maximise productivity. This includes excluding highly paid contractors from the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 and reviews of Off Payroll IR35 and the employment status of the professional self-employed.

Supporting workforce skills growth, training and talent development through access to more flexible modular training under the Apprenticeship Levy and a greater focus on financial support for regional hubs. Access to international skills also needs to be extended through flexible short-term “project” visas for highly skilled workers and a greater focus on skilled immigration in trade deals.

Introducing policies that drive fairness and inclusion in the new world of work to ensure legislation matches the pace of change in hiring and working practices. That includes legislating to boost “skills-first hiring” practices and encourage people to rejoin the workforce though tax incentives on occupational health, mental health and health screening budgets.

Harnessing technology for the skills revolution to drive economic growth, which includes building on the existing “AI in recruitment” guidance to deliver recognised and auditable standards. Any such regulation should be in alignment with global directives and needs to hold AI developers and technology providers accountable for transparency and fairness in their products.