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How technical education can help SMEs tackle tough skills gaps in 2025

More businesses are seeing that the various options for recruiting and upskilling are a valuable asset

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How Skills For Life Is Helping Armultra

Skills gaps continue to be one of the biggest challenges facing employers in 2025.

New data from this year’s Skills Horizon Barometer report* from Skills for Life shows that 90% of businesses are anticipating some kind of skills gap within their business, with the biggest at entry level (32%).

One way to overcome these challenges is to embrace technical education and the opportunities it offers to individuals and employers alike.

Hiring people through technical education schemes such as apprenticeships, or hosting T Level students on industry placement, can help boost productivity and bring new ideas to a business. It also offers employers the unique opportunity to shape their workforce, providing hands-on experience that aligns with their business goals and ethos.

While a quarter (24%) of businesses still look to hire those from traditional academic routes, such as university, a fifth (21%) say they would hire candidates straight from school or college, supporting young people with relevant training to build up their skills.

Technical education offers a range of opportunities to both individuals and employers (Image: Alamy)

One organisation that’s seen the benefits of these schemes is Great Yarmouth-based manufacturers, Armultra.

Director Tom Beales said: “As an SME, getting people through the door in the first place can be tricky, as you’re competing with larger businesses and their benefits, however once they’re in, we know we can retain staff by being a really great place to work.

"We’ve worked with various technical education routes to get staff in. Our biggest focus is apprenticeships, but we’ve also done Skills Bootcamps and a supported internship.