Report highlights action needed to avert future driver shortages
A new report published this month has set out a suite of recommendations for industry and government to ensure HGV drivers will continue to be attracted to the sector, trained and retained, in order to avoid future shortage scenarios.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) report, entitled Lorry Drivers: the Vital Link, acknowledges that in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the measures adopted to help boost driver numbers have helped to stabilise the workforce – but warns that the sector continues to be vulnerable to freight volume fluctuations and faces significant structural issues.
“If the economy picks up there are likely to be issues with the number of available drivers,” it cautioned.
The report forecasts that 40,000 new HGV drivers will be required annually by the industry each year for the next five years – 200,000 in total – in order to fulfil increasing demand and avoid further shortages such as that leading to the crisis of 2021, where delays and disruption resulted in widespread empty shelves at retailers.
In pursuit of this target, the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will need to carry out an average of 73,000 driving tests annually, the RHA predicts.
To help attract a continued stream of new recruits to the sector, the report recommends that funding for the HGV driver skills bootcamps should be maintained beyond this year, and that plans should be put in place to help boost awareness of logistics careers among school-aged students and jobseekers.
Industry, for its part, should collaborate with educational institutions to promote logistics as a career path, and to develop specific training programmes for the sector such as T-levels, the report said.
It also called for greater flexibility within the growth and skills levy which funds apprenticeships to help fleets to utilise funds effectively, and a review of the initial Driver CPC content to place increased emphasis on preparation for the vocational driver role, with the aim of boosting retention.
As regards testing, RHA said the government should reopen delegated examiner training to increase capacity, including delegated theory tests, and improve the DVSA’s booking system to avoid the need for training providers to block book tests.
To further increase retention, the association advocated government collaboration with insurance companies and industry to reduce insurance costs associated with newly qualifying as a driver, and ringfencing funding for the improvement of roadside facilities, boosting truck parking capacity and the number of rest stops.
In addition to its recommendations, the report takes an in-depth look at the current HGV driver workforce and its demographics, as well as the impact on the sector of the current economic climate and indicators of future trends in freight volume.
“Inflation has depressed freight volumes, which have been depressed further by higher interest rates,” said the report.
“The UK’s departure from the EU, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have all impacted freight volumes.
“With the new UK government’s focus on housebuilding, HGV drivers will play a critical role in reaching the target of building 1.5 million homes within five years, so increasing the driver pool is essential to meet this need.”
The report also highlights the disproportionately older, male demographic which continues to characterise the HGV driver workforce. It cites 2021 census statistics suggesting that just 1.6 per cent of drivers were under 24.
Less than two per cent of drivers were female, though in the under-30s this rose to 4.5 per cent. Ethnic diversity also remained low – 83 per cent of drivers described themselves as white British compared to 74 per cent in careers across the board – while just one per cent of truck drivers reported their sexual orientation to be other than straight, as compared to 3.5 per cent across all sectors. The proportion of workers with disabilities across all sectors was just under 9.6 per cent, but for truck drivers, just over 7.8 per cent.
The RHA identified that an average of 18,000 drivers per year were likely to retire over the next decade. But retirement was only part of the picture: according to data from the Office for National Statistics, an increasing number are leaving for health reasons.
These include physical issues associated with the lifting and movement of loads, the sedentary nature of driving, and poor diet on the road. But the report also identified the impact of mental health issues such as loneliness and the stresses of the job, such as meeting compliance demands and tight time windows.
Concerns over driver mental wellbeing were echoed last month by a study from Webfleet, the fleet management arm of Bridgestone, which found that driver stress remains a significant concern within the road transport sector.
63 per cent of the fleets its surveyed reported high or moderate stress levels among drivers – a trend which was more pronounced among HGV operators, at 71 per cent, as opposed to a lower 54 per cent figure for van fleets.
But Webfleet said that UK fleets were prioritising driver mental wellbeing as part of their safety strategies, with 82 per cent reporting that they had formal processes to support drivers after incidents. Safety technologies were helping, it suggested, with 88 per cent of fleets saying they had seen improvements in driver recruitment and retention as a result of adopting tools to protect their mobile workforce.
To help combat a future exodus of drivers, the RHA called on industry to develop a new campaign to promote driver welfare, including both mental and physical health, and a new driver welfare guide which would showcase best practice for employers on driver management.
Further reasons identified by the RHA report for drivers leaving the sector included antisocial start times, long and unpredictable hours, and in some roles extended periods away from home.
“For younger people who value their social lives, the early starts are a reason for leaving, or not even pursuing, driving as a career,” it found.
“Slightly older workers find that the job is not family friendly, as with most families now needing two earners, it is not easy to accommodate a share of family responsibilities such as childcare. Drivers can also be concerned about the safety aspects of being responsible for cargo when parked in laybys and service stations for breaks.”
The report cited the 2023 Trucking Lives survey in which over 60 per cent of former drivers chose “improve provision and quality of roadside services” when asked how the government could improve working conditions – the most popular of the responses available.
The RHA suggested industry should focus on enhanced retention methods, such as flexible working and other company benefits, to drive competitiveness.
Commenting on the report, RHA skills policy lead Sally Gilson said: “Businesses across the road transport sector are key economic enablers – and attracting people into the industry and building the foundations for a future workforce is essential. If we’re to future- proof the industry for the long term, we need to recruit, train and retain tens of thousands of drivers annually to meet demand. With an ageing workforce, we also need to attract more young people into the industry. To get there, we must prioritise flexible, funded training options.
“Rising costs and insolvencies equally highlight the need for continued support through programmes like bootcamps to ease training expenses. Industry and government collaboration with training providers will also be key to recruiting and retaining staff for the long-term.”
