PSS commissioned the first phase of a new project, in partnership with the Maritime Skills Commission (MSC), to gather data on the current UK ports workforce and identify skills gaps affecting the current workforce and the potential future skills needs.
PSS renewed its commitment to skills and, in January 2023, launched a new five-year skills strategy to ensure that members, and the wider UK ports sector, share best practice, support port people and identify future skills needs. As part of this plan, PSS and the MSC commissioned the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR) to undertake the same Skills Intelligence Modelling (SIM) process that is widely used in the rail sector to forecast future skills needs.
In developing our new skills strategy, it became apparent that there is a lack of data on the current workforce which restricts ports’ ability to plan and recruit for current and future needs. Therefore, we are delighted to be partnering with MSC and NSAR to gather data on the current UK ports workforce which we can use to model the skills need.
Debbie Cavaldoro, chief executive, pss
SIM is an innovative Skills Forecasting Tool which NSAR have developed over several years after it was first commissioned by the UK Government to forecast the future workforce skills requirements for the UK rail sector. The analytical power of the SIM has been embraced both by other sectors and internationally for strategic workforce planning, identifying skills shortages, and forecasting the impact of planned investment projects on the future workforce.
From December 2022 to April 2023, PSS and the MSC asked the UK port sector for their help in providing workplace data. This data was collated by NSAR on behalf of PSS and in accordance with General Data Protection Requirements (GDPR).
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