CII blames education system for rising skills shortage

by Gill Montia

Story link: CII blames education system for rising skills shortage

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has published the results of its 2008 annual skills survey, which shows that the skills shortage in the financial services sector is worsening.

The survey was conducted online and involved 3,511 CII and Personal Finance Society members.

Of the respondents, 834 were employers. Three-quarters of this group reported shortages of technical skills in staff, a 5% rise on 2007.

Fifty-seven per cent of employers laid responsibility for this at the door of the education system, which they saw as failing to meet the needs of the industry.

Only 3% found the basic levels of education in the UK more than adequate and 61% had experience of graduates being under equipped with basic skills such as grammar and numeracy.

The number of employers who believed that employees will need better qualifications in the future rose 14% in the 2008 survey, to 73%.

CII President, Lord Hunt, described the survey’s findings as a wake up call and is urging employers, individuals, the Government and bodies such as the CII and Financial Services Skills Council to work together to ensure that the industry’s needs are being met.

Last year, the CII launched its Broker Academy, which it describes as a one-stop-shop training facility for insurance brokers.