The RHA is calling on the government to give emergency £2,500 training grants to hauliers to fund the training of new HGV drivers in a bid to head-off a critical shortage of drivers.

RHA director of policy Jack Semple estimated that the industry was facing a shortfall of 40,000 drivers in the run up to the Christmas peak, and called for urgent action to fill the gap by training unemployed UK residents rather than operators recruiting qualified drivers from abroad.

“We need targeted funding to get new recruits their HGV licence and trained as drivers,” he told MT. “The grant should be available to hauliers who have identified a suitable candidate of any age. They should be time limited to 24 months with a review after 12 months.”

The RHA is backing the logistics industry’s bid for funding under the government’s latest Trailblazer apprenticeship programme, but Semple said this would take two years to bear fruit. “We can’t wait two years,” he said. “We need funding now.”

Semple also refuted suggestions that government funding was not available for vocational qualifications that are essential to doing a particular job – such as obtaining an HGV licence. “There is no obstacle I am aware of to public funding of vocational qualifications,” he said.

Conventional apprenticeship funding often dries up beyond the age of 19, which makes it inappropriate for recruiting and training HGV drivers because insurance companies are reluctant to cover drivers under the age of 23. One operator told MT that it had been quoted an additional excess of £4,000 for drivers under the age of 21, though Semple said this was “at the top end” of quotes he had seen for RHA members.

Conservative MP for Stroud Neil Carmichael has called for a parliamentary debate on the driver shortage and how the government can promote lorry driving as a career for young people.

This week the Recruitment & Employment Confederation laid bare the Christmas driver shortfall in a survey of its members.

  • The RHA recently submitted its training grant request to the Treasury and is hoping the scheme will get the go ahead and be announced in December's Autumn Statement.

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