UK body, the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACE) has warned that a lack of recruitable engineers and technical specialists is threatening the modernisation of Britain’s roads, railways and infrastructure.
A recent ACE survey has revealed that 94% of engineering companies experienced difficulty recruiting experienced staff with 80% of firms struggling to find quality graduate engineers. A worrying 88% described recruiting civil engineers as extremely difficult.
ACE chief executive, Nicholas Bennet believes a combination of poor salaries in comparison to other industries and the knock on effect of the lack of maths and science teachers in the UK education system is to blame. Bennet warned: "Government plans for the revitalisation and refurbishment of road and rail will be almost impossible to achieve if Britain does not produce the engineers to carry out the work," he concluded," If the government doesn’t tackle the problem now, the situation will worsen rapidly over the next few years."
