Cogent Skills has released new research suggesting the UK's medicines manufacturing sector is being held back by a gap in specialist skills and essential qualified personnel.
The new report, "Future-Ready: Skills for a competitive medicines manufacturing sector," was funded by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) and managed by Innovate UK to provide practical, employer-led intelligence to inform skills interventions in medicines manufacturing amid "significant change and policy transition."
The most acute capability gaps were identified in the commercial (24%), research and development (20%) and new technology (15%) business areas, while specific skills pressures for SMEs highlighted by the research included the following:
- gaps in specialist roles, including quality assurance/quality control, regulatory and process engineering roles
- graduate and early-career professional readiness for good manufacturing practice (GMP) environments
- the shift towards automation and data-enabled manufacturing, which requires broader digital literacy across scientific and technical roles
- a growing need for cross-functional capabilities, e.g., multi-skilling and whole-business awareness.
Fay Treloar, Head of Skills, Life Sciences at Cogent Skills, said: "Our research shows that workforce capability is the foundation for life sciences and medicines manufacturing."
Therefore, to ensure take-up of the latest technologies and the ability for SMEs to scale and attract investment, the sector’s industrial strategy and skills reforms need to recognise the skills and competencies necessary for success.
The report also contains a range of practical recommendations, including the following:
- more user-friendly apprenticeships for SMEs — including simplified administration
- modular GMP-ready micro-credentials — focusing on, for example, documentation discipline and deviation prevention
- using secondments to develop cross-functional development
- clearer training support for SMEs, along with guidance on funding and support.
Cogent Skills said that it used its expertise in regulatory environments, specialist occupations and apprenticeship standards to ensure that the research evidence reflected operational realities and could be translated into actionable insights.
Treloar added: "Although the life sciences sector is widely recognised as a priority growth industry, there has been limited, granular evidence on how UK medicines manufacturing employers, particularly SMEs, experience the skills system in practice, how it supports workforce development and where there are operational frictions."
Therefore, this research project supports delivery of the Life Sciences Sector Plan’s workforce ambitions, strengthens the evidence base for future investment in specialist provision and helps identify approaches that build scale and accessibility for SMEs.
The full report is available to read here.
